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Nord Anglia comes clean - HQ faces chop
Kevin Feddy29/ 7/2005
TROUBLED education services group Nord Anglia has confirmed it is to shut its Cheadle HQ and sell the building to cut its debts.
The site will be closed by the end of the year and work carried out there will be transferred to Burton-on-Trent, where its nurseries division is based. Up to 100 staff currently based in Cheadle will lose their jobs, although the company is refusing to issue further details until an update in early September.
Documents revealing bosses' plans were leaked to the M.E.N. earlier this month, although angry staff have complained about being kept in the dark.
In a stock market statement yesterday, Nord Anglia said the switch to Burton would enable the group to centralise its procedures and systems and eliminate duplicate functions. The Cheadle offices have an estimated market value of £2.7m.
Upheaval
The shake-up is the latest upheaval in a torrid year for Nord Anglia. The company, which runs children's nurseries, British-style schools overseas and provides inspection and training services in UK schools, issued a profit warning earlier this year.
They plummeted from £4.14m to £1.13m in the first half, and the group scrapped its interim dividend. The profit warning prompted a slide in Nord Anglia's share price - the group lost half of its market value but has since clawed back a little.
Chairman and founder Kevin McNeany stood down in January, and in April group finance director Lorene Simpson departed.
Nord Anglia said it is making progress in selling 13 non-core nurseries worth up to £2.5m.
The statement also said: "Nord Anglia Education's management team is strongly committed to identifying and implementing measures to create shareholder value, and will issue a further update in early September."
A 30-day consultation period with staff over the Cheadle closure was due to begin today.
Workers who have posted on this website have told of their anger over what they described as a `scandal' and `betrayal'.
What do you think? Have your say below.
Most recent 2 of 11 user comments
7/02/2006 at 15:25
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With the value of the sterling so low, should the UK now join the euro?
30/04/2006 at 23:16
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