Dell hit by downturn in Scottish finance

Published on Saturday 16 May 2009 14:21

DELL'S flagship Edinburgh office has become a casualty of the beleaguered Scottish financial services sector.

The US computer manufacture established a base in the capital two years ago, specifically to win business from the city's finance industry.

But it will now concentrate its Scottish efforts on its Glasgow headquarters at City Park. Dell employs 720 staff in sales and marketing support services.

The group parachuted dozens of key finance-minded technology professionals into its Edinburgh operation in Multrees Walk. But deals have been scarce, especially since the crises around Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS.

As one IT source said: "Rather than financial houses looking for IT solutions to help them get out of this recession, new contracts have been scarce and so Dell has become a casualty of the credit crunch."

A Dell spokesman confirmed the closure of the Edinburgh office, and said it was "part of a strategic review of our facilities throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa where, in order to reach our operating costs, we have decided to exit the Edinburgh satellite office by July 31".

The 35 staff will either operate from home or commute to the company's Glasgow base. "We remain committed to Scotland," he added.

Dell last year relocated almost all of its European manufacturing together with 1,900 jobs from Limerick in Ireland to Poland after losing its world number one spot in personal computers to Hewlett-Packard.