Zamano chief to step down

Zamano chief executive John O'Shea is to step down next month, the mobile data services company said today.

Mr O'Shea will leave his role on November 18th.

In a statement to the Irish Stock Exchange, Zamano said Mr O'Shea was leaving to "pursue other interests".

While the board seeks a new chief executive non-executive director Pat Landy will take on a temporary executive role, and the group's operational responsibility will fall to Everneo managing director Margaret O'Connor and Zamano's financial controller Michael Connolly.

In the statement, Zamano also said the increased subscriber acquisition that had been identified in last month's interim results as a  result of the investment in web and mobile marketing has continued through October and has accelerated.

Earlier this year, the Dublin-headquartered firm announced a pretax loss of €13.3 million for 2010, as revenues fell by almost €10 million and the company was hit by a goodwill impairment cost.

The firm has struggled in recent years as more rigorous regulation and the increase in smartphone penetration presented new challenges to the business. However, in May investors were told that the core mobile content business had stabilised.