UK financial services group Britannic is cutting 200 jobs from its direct sales sales force, which has already shed 2,000 staff.

Britannic hopes to save �10m ($15.6m) by reducing the workforce at its Britannic Assurance division, which is to focus on selling financial services on the phone.

The company also reported a 35% fall in profits for the six months to June.

In May last year, Britannic closed its door-to-door sales operation with the loss of 2,000 jobs, one of several moves to adapt to changes within the financial services sector.

One change is that customers are increasingly buying financial products on line.

The latest job cuts will affect staff who work from home.

Changing times

Britannic held merger talks with several companies in March, but did not reach a deal.

It was traditionally a life assurer, has also diversified its business into mortgages and pensions.

It made an operating profit of �52m in the six months to 30 June, compared to �80m in the same period of last year, though it said last year's results were inflated by �13m of one-off gains.

The firm said its results reflected its strategic shakeout, the depressed world stock markets and "the tough economic and trading environment".

However, Britannic's decision to hold its dividend payment steady at 18.5 pence per share delighted investors.

Its shares climbed more than 6% on the London stock market, while other insurers and banks saw their stocks slide on fears of a slowdown in the housing market and exposure to East Asian banks.

The firm also said it has promoted finance director Bryan Portman to the job of group managing director.