Golden Pages staff withdraw action against Telecom float

An application by employees of Golden Pages Ltd to restrain the Telecom Eireann share flotation was withdrawn at the High Court yesterday.

The employees intend to proceed with their claim for damages against Telecom, but that action is unlikely to be heard for some time.

The Golden Pages workers had intended to seek a court order restraining Telecom from proceeding with its share flotation until their entitlement to an allocation of shares with the Telecom Employee Share Ownership Trust was established.

They had also intended to seek a declaration that they had a legitimate expectation to a Telecom shares entitlement.

Golden Pages, with headquarters at St Martin's House, Waterloo Road, Dublin, is 63 per cent owned by Telecom and 37 per cent by VNU, a Dutch publishing company. It employs 260 staff.

Telecom Eireann, in refusing to include Golden Pages employees in its shares offer to employees, said only subsidiaries 100 per cent-owned by the company, whose employees were covered by the transformation of the company deal and other measures, could be considered eligible.

When the injunction application came before the court yesterday, Mr Joseph Finnegan SC, for the Golden Pages workers, said his clients had been seeking substantive relief but had been overtaken by events. They would not be proceeding with their application for an injunction.

Over the weekend, more than a million Telecom share prospectuses had been issued, counsel said.

He told Mr Justice O'Sullivan that the necessary undertaking as to damages, which his clients would be obliged to give should they secure the injunction, would probably exceed their ability to pay.

His clients were in those circumstances not proceeding with the injunction application, but they would be pursuing their claim for damages in the full hearing.

Mr Dermot Gleeson SC, for Telecom, said it should be pointed out in fairness that Telecom had indicated last Tuesday that it would proceed with the flotation announcement at the weekend.

In their action against both Telecom and Golden Pages, the workers will seek damages for misrepresentation, negligence and general damages, with a further claim against Golden Pages for damages for breach of contract.