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Eason reaches agreement on job cuts

13.02.12 | Benedicte Page

Irish-owned retailer Eason has reached agreement with staff over a cost-reduction programme involving 150 redundancies, after months of negotiations with union Siptu. 

The company is also to close its shop in Talbot Street, Dublin, on 12th March, with the shop's 12 staff offered redeployment or redundancy.

The announcement comes as Eason confirmed it has completed a refinancing of its banking facilities to support its new business plan on which it intends to spend €12m upgrading its IT systems over the next 18 months. 

An Eason spokesperson said: "It's an incredibly difficult marketplace that the company is operating in, the whole retail high street, and Eason still has substantial challenges ahead. But it has successfully discussed financing with its banks and implemented a cost efficiency programme and that should augur well for the future."

The Talbot Street shop is being closed because it is "not operating successfully", the Eason spokesperson said. "It's a small store close to our flagship store on O'Connell Street and customers will still be well served in O'Connell Street," he added.

Eason's  m.d. Conor Whelan told the Irish Times that trading performance for December 2011 was "satisfactory" with sales at company-owned stores in the Republic increasing by 1.7%, excluding airport business impacted by the opening of Terminal Two in Dublin. Book sales were down 0.3% on a like-for-like basis. 

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