Eircom's chief financial officer departs

EIRCOM’S CHIEF financial officer Peter Cross has become the latest senior executive to leave the company.

A spokesman for Eircom declined to comment on Mr Cross’s departure. He said chief executive Paul Donovan had assumed responsibility for finance as an interim measure.

Mr Cross could not be reached for comment yesterday, but sources indicated that there had been differences between Mr Cross and Mr Donovan in recent times. It is understood that Mr Cross does not have another position lined up as yet.

The departure of Mr Cross will surprise many. The role of CFO is hugely important at Eircom given that it has debts of about €4 billion and has indicated that it could breach its financial covenants within the next 12 months.

Earlier this month, ratings agency Moody’s downgraded Eircom’s debt for the third time this year and suggested that it could breach its financial covenants by the end of June 2011. SP has also downgraded the company’s debt.

Mr Cross had played a significant role in much of the restructuring that has taken place at Eircom over the past 18 months, including a deal with its trade unions that should eliminate the deficit in its pension scheme.

Mr Cross joined Eircom in July 2007 from BT, where he was CFO of its OpenReach wholesale division in the UK. He had been group corporate finance director at BT.

He qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen in Dublin before moving to the UK, where he held positions with Barings and Morgan Stanley.

He is the latest member of the senior management team to leave Eircom. Andrew Haire is stepping down as corporate affairs director, having only taken on the role in June, while Conor Carmody, director of eMobile, has left to take up a position with Vodafone.

Separately, Eircom has agreed a deal that will allow it to resell Digiweb’s satellite broadband service around the country and so plugs gaps in its own network for customers.