Royal & SunAlliance in the UK remains under intense pressure to do something to reverse its plummeting share price and disappointing results. After organising a sell-off of assets around the world – including the (so far) unsuccessful sale of its non-general insurance assets in Australia and New Zealand – and cutting 1200 jobs, the company’s management remains under pressure. Now shareholder attention is focused on CEO Bob Mendelsohn, with reports from the UK saying he is being pushed to resign.

R&SA booked an operating profit of $841 million for 2001/02. Another $184.2 million went to meeting WTC claims. Its share price has fallen 26% to a six-year low.

Despite raising nearly $2.2 billion in asset sales so far, Mr Mendelsohn is now said by Credit Suisse First Boston to need another $2.7 billion if it is to have the capital to stay up with the competition and offset stockmarket losses. Standard & Poor’s has also cut the company’s rating from A+ to A, reflecting the difficulty all UK insurers are having with falling equity markets.

In a statement, R&SA said it is “actively pursuing a number of actions to improve our capital position. It is our intention that these should put us in position to regain our A+ credit rating.”

Mr Mendelsohn remains unbowed, if a little bloodied by several long years of fighting off a languid share price that hasn’t always reflected the realities of the company’s performance. Now he is expected to speed up the asset disposal program, and has signalled he will investigate the possibility of raising money in the capital markets.