Thus agrees to sell contact centres

Three contact centres employing almost 1,000 people are set to be sold in a deal worth £4m (€6m), it was announced today.

Response Handling Limited – a subsidiary of Murray International Holdings - will double its number of centres through the proposed deal with telecoms group Thus.

Two of the three sites, which provide incoming and outbound call services for a range of major companies such as Sky, Hewlett-Packard and Kwik Fit, are in Glasgow, where Response has all its operations. The other centre, employing 50 people, is at Horsham, in the south east of England.

Thus said the sites being sold today had been “continuously unprofitable” since the company’s flotation almost five years ago. In the year to March 31, the centres generated sales of £21.7m (€32m) but losses of £1m (€1.5m).

The move was announced at the same time as Thus said that margins continued to be affected by its current mix of revenues, particularly from the faster growth in the data and telecommunication segment. Shares in the group fell 14%.

As well as business telecoms, the former Scottish Power subsidiary, which employs around 2,000 people in the UK, has an internet business operating under the Demon brand.