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More than 100 dismissals in KEO

12/04/2011 08:03
More than 100 employees or almost 20% of its staff will be dismissed by the historic KEO, Deputy General Manager of the Employers’ and Industrialists Federation, Mihalis Antoniou revealed on Tuesday.

Speaking to CyBC in the morning, Mr. Antoniou said that the number of dismissals is 3-digit.

Speaking to StockWatch a bit later, he said than more than 100 employees will be dismissed.

“At this stage, the Company informs the trade unions for the reorganization and the reduction of the staff number”, he noted.

“Unfortunately, many industrial units in Limassol suffer dismissals due to the problems from the financial crisis”, he said.

“We have to be sensible in this period of time”, he said, leaving hints for yesterday’s strike at the Limassol port.

The KEO representative was unavailable for comment.

This number of dismissals is one of the highest in the past years.

In October, 254 Eurocypria employees were dismissed due to the voluntary liquidation of the Company.

The beer, wine and bottled water industry, which is one of the biggest on the island – announced on February 10 its intention to dismiss part of its staff due to the financial crisis and the lower sales.

Originally, it was said that dismissals would concern 5% of its staff.

In 2009, the Company had 572 employees, while before the sharp downturn of its activities, in 2003, KEO employed 800 persons.

The Company announced losses of €3.4 million in 2010 against losses of €3.7 million in 2009.

The latest announcement boosts estimates that the conditions in the labour market continue to deteriorate, despite the gradual recovery of the economy. According to the latest figures, unemployment reached 7.2% in February, which corresponds to 28 thousand unemployed.