Harvey Norman to ‘reformat’ Irish stores

Some 45 jobs will be affected by electrical goods retailer Harvey Norman partially restructuring its Irish operations.

The Australian-owned business, which operates 14 Irish stores, currently has a vacancy for 32 jobs here.

Some 14 of those jobs are set to be filled by the opening of its new furniture and bedding store at Blanchardstown Shopping Centre in November.

However, the remaining 18 could be filled by the redeployment of staff from two other stores.

The company is closing its underperforming/high-rent store at the Lakepoint Retail Park in Mullingar, which currently employs 21 people.

The firm is also “reformatting” its Dundalk-based outlet store, which employs 24 people.

Redeployment discussions have begun with staff in both stores.

Two further outlets in the North are being changed from electrical goods to furniture and bedding.

Ireland remains the only international market in which Harvey Norman is not currently profitable.

However, full-year losses at the Irish division were cut by €8m to €23.3m in 2011 and the company hopes to break even here within five years.

“When the economy bottoms out and returns even to some modest growth, we’ll be here and we’ll be profitable,” Harvey Norman Ireland chief executive Blaine Callard said recently.

Elsewhere, Marks & Spencer has partially blamed its under-performing Irish operations for its latest quarterly sales decline.

First quarter group sales — for the three months to the end of June — were down by 0.7%, year-on-year, on a constant currency basis. Sales in the company’s core British market fell by 0.9%, although food sales were up by nearly 3%.

International sales — boosted by showings in India and China — were up by 0.9% on a constant currency basis, but in real terms actually fell by 3.5%.