SmartForce warns of further job losses after merger with SkillSoft

E-learning company SmartForce has warned there will be more job losses at its Irish operations when its merger with US counterpart SkillSoft is completed before the end of the current quarter.

Chief executive Mr Greg Priest also said that following a prolonged depressed trading environment, the company was now witnessing "a halt to a further deterioration in trading conditions".

Speaking after the company's a.g.m. yesterday, Mr Priest said when the SkillSoft merger was completed, jobs would be shed at the merged entity's operations worldwide and that Ireland would not be immune to the cuts. "Nothing fundamental in the company will change but there will be job losses company-wide," he said.

When SmartForce shed 23 per cent of its global workforce in April, Ireland was "less affected" compared with operations elsewhere, he said. However, he added, while the group's presence in Ireland would remain significant following the SoftSkills merger, there would be job losses here.

SmartForce currently employs around 420 people at its Irish operations. In April, the company shed 23 per cent of its workforce when it announced 421 of 1,800 jobs were to go in its operations around the world. At that time, its Irish unit escaped the worst with 80 of 500 jobs lost in the Republic.

Mr Priest said the staff reductions in April cost the company around $15 million to $20 million in redundancies and related expenses but would result in savings of around $15 million per quarter from the final quarter of 2002. He said while SmartForce's share price had fallen further on news of the SkillSoft merger, it was not something he was overly concerned about. Once the company posts some of the projected results it has pledged, investor nerves should be calmed, he said.

He added the merger would make the company much stronger and better placed to take advantage of an upswing in the IT sector when it "inevitably" happens. While the company had seen no improvement in conditions of late, there was some good news, he said."Things certainly don't seem to have gotten any worse. When I look back that's probably the first time I would have been able to say that for 18 months," he said.