EDB Business Partner ASA reorganises bank & finance business area, cuts 105 jobs

Nordic Business Report, August 29, 2003

NORDIC BUSINESS REPORT-29 August 2003-EDB Business Partner ASA reorganises bank & finance business area, cuts 105 jobs(C)1994-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com

The Norwegian IT group EDB Business Partner ASA said on Thursday (28 August) that it would reorganise and downsize its business area Bank & Finance.

The reorganisation was aimed at creating a more market-oriented organisation with a better profitability, and involved a reduction of the Nordic workforce by some 105 employees, EDB Business Partner said.

According to Ole Urdahl, executive vice president for the Bank & Finance business area, the downsizing is the outcome of two assessments.

"The first of these covers essential profitability requirements which the present organisation fails to satisfy. The second concerns the need for expertise and capacity in the new organisation to ensure that it has the strength to develop and solid technical teams," Urdahl said.

"We're now implementing more extensive changes in the way we organise our work than we've considered earlier. This means that we can achieve substantial efficiency gains while simultaneously strengthening our competitiveness and position in the market," Urdahl added.

EDB Business Partner said that it was making a provision of NOK92m for one-off expenses relating to the restructuring.

One Norwegian krone (NOK) is worth approximately 0.085 British pounds (GBP).

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