NEWS The directory enquiry firm, which operates the 11850 service in Ireland and the 118888 service in the UK, announced that discussions with Telegate, which have taken place over the last few months, have now ended. Telegate had been in discussions with Conduit to acquire its UK and Spanish businesses.
The company has released a statement confirming that it is now at an advanced stage of negotiations with a prominent investor group to secure the re-financing of its entire business.
A spokesman for Conduit confirmed that after the recent restructuring of its business in the UK, that its financial position has substantially improved, and it expects the refinancing discussions to be successfully concluded in the near future. The company claims that it has an estimated 18 percent market share in the UK directory enquiries sector.
The company had been having a difficult time on the British market. In September, the firm was forced to lay off approximately 250 temporary staff in the UK. It was believed at the time that it had struggled to gain a large enough slice of the British market. The move was followed in November with the loss of a further 100 UK jobs as the company closed a call centre in Welwyn, Hertfordshire.
By contrast, the company has been fairing well on the Irish market. It announced in August the creation of a further 200 jobs in its Dublin operation. It employs roughly 800 people in Ireland.
Conduit was subject to a €55.4 million management buyout in January 2003 led by company founders Liam Young and Eddie Kerr. Following the MBO, both were left with stakes of over 30 per cent in the firm. Young resigned from his position of chief executive in September, citing personal reasons. Kerr currently holds the position of chairman at the firm.
Conduit was founded by Young and Kerr in 1996 to take advantage of the deregulation in directory enquiries in Ireland, a function which had hitherto been exclusively carried out by state telecoms operators. The firm has operations in Ireland, the UK, Austria and Switzerland. The Spanish market is served from call centres operating outside of Spain.
Dick O' Brien writes for ElectricNews.net
