Marrakech to shed one-third of its staff in bid to cut costs

Marrakech , a Dublin-based technology firm that has raised $60 million (€56.31 million) in private equity since 1998, will shed almost one-third of its staff in an attempt to cut costs.

The company said yesterday it was making an additional 30 people redundant because there had been no recovery in the technology sector in the past year.

The announcement is the latest in a series of redundancies at the technology firm, which has now reduced its headcount to 75, down from a high of 200 in 2001.

Marrakech, which develops systems to enable different firms to trade online with each other, also said it had raised an additional $5 million to bring it to breakeven.

"Based on current forecasts, Marrakech expects that current financing is sufficient to reach cashflow breakeven," said a spokesman for the company.

The new financing was raised from existing investors in Marrakech, such as Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures, Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, Gartmore Group and AMT Sybex.

Technology entrepreneur Mr Denis O'Brien, who was an early stage investor in Marrakech, is not thought to have taken part in the recent fundraising.

Marrakech, which was founded during the hype of the dotcom era by Canadian entrepreneur Mr Kelly Murphy, counts Jefferson Smurfit, JCB and British Sugar among its clients. However, the company has been hit hard by the technology downturn.

Marrakech lost €25 million in the year to the end of June 2001, on negligible turnover, compared with a pre-tax loss of €6 million in the previous 12 months.