Job losses feared as EuroConex chief resigns

The chief executive of Co Wicklow credit card processing firm EuroConex has resigned from his post ahead of looming job losses at its Arklow office in the new year.

Billy Saunderson is understood to have signalled his intention to stand down from the post on December 31st, shortly before some 300 staff in the company are told the outcome of a fundamental review of the Irish operation. A spokeswoman for the firm's parent in Minneapolis, US Bancorp, declined last night to comment on his resignation.

EuroConex carries out credit card processing for Bank of Ireland, which owned 50 per cent of the company until April 2004 when it sold its stake for €40 million. The company also carries work for card issuers in Britain, France and elsewhere in Europe.

Staff were called to a special meeting on Monday to be told by senior management to expect job losses because the operation was under-performing. The exact number of jobs now threatened is not known, but the fact staff were warned of cuts only six days before Christmas was seen as a sign that a significant number of jobs is at risk.

EuroConex confirmed in a statement issued last night from US Bancorp that it had told its Irish employees and Irish regulatory agencies of a restructuring plan. "We are currently working through the process with internal and external parties to finalise details of this change and we will be communicating our plan to EuroConex employees within 30 days," it said. "We regret that we cannot comment further on the specifics of any pending actions. This is a business decision that was difficult to make . . . Ireland is and will continue to be an important sales and operations centre for EuroConex."

With $207 billion (€174 billion) in assets,US Bancorp is the sixth largest financial services holding company in the US. The job losses come in spite of the fact that the Irish company returned to the black last year after losses in 2003. The latest accounts for EuroConex Technologies Ltd, which runs the business, show that it had pretax profits of €3.5 million on sales of €93.76 million. The accounts say the company has a contingent liability for €852,816 in respect of Government grants which may become repayable if it ceased to employ the number of staff committed to under its grant agreement.

"In the opinion of the directors, such circumstances are unlikely to occur," said a note with the accounts, which were signed off on June 20th.

Wicklow Fine Gael TD Billy Timmons said he was appalled by the news. "Arklow is just getting back on its feet after the seismic job losses in previous decades and EuroConex was said to be one of the jewels in the IDA Industrial Park in Arklow."