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Staff at top estate agents to take 10pc wage cut

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  • 20-06-2008 10:51am
    #1
    The_Conductor
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 32,285 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    http://www.independent.ie/national-news/staff-at-top-estate-agents-to-take10pc-wage-cut-1416004.html



    STAFF salaries at one of the country's biggest estate agents are to be cut by 10pc as the property crash worsens.

    STAFF salaries at one of the country's biggest estate agents are to be cut by 10pc as the property crash worsens.

    Lisney, which employs 170 people, will slash its workers' pay from July 1, the Irish Independent can reveal.

    Shocked workers were told of the unprecedented move last week at a meeting addressed by management.

    It comes as the property slowdown continues. "They basically said the market was bad so we would have to take a 10pc cut," said an insider.

    Hired

    The cut will also apply to Lisney directors, who last year took home pay of €5.9m, a 50pc increase on the previous year.

    "The cut is being done in the interest of protecting jobs and it does apply from the top down, across the board," said a Lisney spokesman last night.

    The blue-chip estate agents swung into the red with a loss after tax of €140,293 to the year ending March 2007, compared to a profit after tax of €279,430 the year before.

    At €15.7m, staff wages and salaries at Lisney jumped by 40 per cent over the same period. Lisney also hired 14 new staff during the 12 months, raising staff numbers to 168.

    "The main risk to the group are changes in market sentiment, negative movements in interest and inflation rates and their subsequent impact on the property market, and lack of investment opportunities," said the accounts.

    Battering

    The cut in monthly take-home pay comes as the cost of living continues to soar and fuel bills spiral.

    Once the poster boy of the Celtic Tiger, the property sector has taken a battering in recent months with prices down across the board.

    Nationally, house prices fell by about 13pc last year, with secondhand house prices in Dublin falling by an average of 9pc.

    Lisney is one of Ireland's leading commercial and residential real estate agencies with offices in Dublin, Cork and Belfast.


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    #2
    SimpleSam06
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,048 ✭✭✭SimpleSam06


    Erm, I'm not sure if I read that right, but the directors are pulling down one third of the wages for the entire company of around 170 people, and the profits were less than 2% of the entire wage bill? Something is extremely rank in that company, it has the profile of one of those VC-stuffed dotcoms trying for an IPO a few years back. Fifty developers and sundry seat warmers looking after a single website that collapsed the minute it went public, directly after the VCs skimmed off the cream.


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