Norkom laid off over half of staff in 2003

SOFTWARE company Norkom Technologies, that counts Fran Rooney, Gavin O’Reilly and Denis O’Brien among it directors, laid off just over half its staff in 2003, according to recently filed accounts.

The company, which at one stage employed over 200 people, cut its workforce from 123 to just 60. All but three of its 19 sales and marketing team were cut, while the research staff was halved.

The jobs cuts saw Norkom’s wages and salary bill fall from €7.5 million to €4.19 million in the year to March 31, 2003.

The job cuts helped the company, which develops software for financial institutions, reduce its losses for the year from €8.4 million to €477,920 at pre-tax level. And the company noted for the final seven months of the year it had traded profitably. Turnover for the year, though, fell by 26% from €11.2 million to €8.2 million, with 36% of this being generated in the US.

Sales in both its main areas - professional services and software licensing - fell but the directors noted the company had “closed several deals with new and existing customers since its fiscal year end.”

But retained losses at the company have reached of €32 million and Norkom has long-term debt of €3 million. After a fundraising round in 2002 Norkom’s cash balance went up from €2.7 million to €4.2 million, while shareholders funds was up from €1.5 million to €3.04 million. Norkom’s directors saw their remuneration fall from €469,541 to €365,640.