Ballymore cuts jobs and appoints new chief

PROPERTY DEVELOPER Ballymore is cutting 50 jobs in a reorganisation that will also see it appoint a new chief executive.

The Irish-based group said yesterday it plans to cut between 45 and 50 people from its payroll of 400 this year.

Ballymore believes it can achieve most of the cuts by not replacing people who leave or retire. The reduction will be across its operations in Ireland, Britain, Europe and the US, and are the result of a recent review of the business.

Ballymore also announced yesterday that chief operating officer David Brophy is to take over as chief executive, while its founder and the current holder of that post, Seán Mulryan, will become executive chairman.

Head of corporate affairs Paul Keogh will be promoted to group director, strategy and communications, and John Mulryan will step up to general manager, operations.

Mr Brophy told The Irish Times yesterday that Ballymore had been planning the change in roles for some time and the move was designed to allow Mr Mulryan to concentrate on identifying properties and development opportunities.

“It does not mean in any way that Seán will be cutting back on his activities. He is going to be sticking to what he does well.”

Mr Brophy added that it would be a waste of Mr Mulryan’s skills if he were concentrating on the day-to-day details of running the company.

In a statement Mr Mulryan said the current economic climate had created “enormous development opportunities”, adding that Mr Brophy’s appointment would allow him to concentrate on pursuing them.

Mr Brophy said yesterday that Ballymore had a number of full-time acquisition teams working on the ground in various markets that were actively looking at opportunities.

He said Ballymore was looking at Germany and particularly at New York. “Five or six years ago we felt that the time in New York was not right; now we feel that it is potentially right.”

The group was also looking at the Polish market, which it felt was too expensive up to recently.

He acknowledged that conditions meant that there was good value available in many markets.

“If you go back the group has made quantum leaps during and at the end of severe property recessions, largely because of its financial strength and agility. We’re hoping we can make another quantum leap this time.”