Proposed acquisition

RNS Number : 4019W

Scottish & Southern Energy PLC

10 June 2008

 

Acquisition proposed of Cumbernauld site

Scottish and Southern Energy plc ('SSE') has entered into an agreement in principle with Barclaycard, under which it will purchase the Goldfish site at Cumbernauld and subject to retraining, offer job opportunities for up to 800 people who currently work at the site, with the expectation that the site capacity of 1,000 will be reached within the next two years. This is subject to final contracts.

SSE is the UK's second largest supplier of electricity and gas, with around 8.5 million customers. During 2007/08 it gained 700,000 additional customers. The facility at Cumbernauld will be SSE's first new Customer Service Centre outside its traditional area since it was formed 10 years ago and will add to it's award-winning customer service operations in Perth, Cardiff, Basingstoke and Portsmouth. As a result, SSE will reconsider the development of a third building at its Perth site at the present time. 

The news comes four weeks after Barclaycard, which bought Goldfish from Discover Financial Services in March 2008, announced proposals to close the Cumbernauld site by the end of the year. At the time, Barclaycard promised to explore all options to preserve jobs in Cumbernauld and today employees were told that an agreement in principle had been reached for SSE to purchase the site later this year.

 

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