MBNA Leitrim premises in €33.8m writedown

THE COMPANY that operates the MBNA call centre in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, has written down the value of its premises by €33.8 million, to €7.9 million, in preparation for its sale next year, according to accounts just filed.

The premises and its fittings, which are owned by MBNA Ireland Ltd, are being sold to a fund associated with US asset management group, Apollo Global Management.

Earlier this year it was announced that Bank of America Europe Card Services, which owns MBNA, was selling its Irish consumer credit card portfolio, and the centre in Carrick-on-Shannon, to the Apollo fund. The sale to the Apollo European Principal Finance Fund I secured 250 jobs at the Carrick-on-Shannon facility, it was said at the time. The portfolio involved 200,000 customers who had debts of €650 million. Last month it was announced the interest rate on the credit cards was going up by 4 per cent.

The accounts just filed for MBNA Ireland say it will continue to provide services to MBNA Europe for the foreseeable future.

Some of the employees at the centre are to continue to work for MBNA, servicing credit card customers in the UK, while others will become employees of Apollo, servicing the Irish credit card portfolio now owned by Apollo, according to an MBNA spokesman.

The centre employed an average of 470 people during 2011, according to the MBNA Ireland accounts just filed. While the company reported a pre-tax loss of €31.78 million, this included the €33.8 million impairment charge.

Net operating expenses for the company decreased to €26 million, from €33.3 million in 2010, due to a combination of reduced employee costs and other efficiency savings, according to the accounts. There was an associated fall in turnover, to €26.5 million from €34.7 million in 2010.

The company had shareholders’ funds of €20.4 million at the end of 2011, down from €52.2 million at the end of 2010. The average number of employees was 457, down from 630 in 2010, while the cost of employing staff fell to €16.6 million, from €24.4 million. The three directors of the company shared remuneration of €204,628.