In reorganising its European activities after reporting a second quarter loss of $75m, Dell Computer Corp is closing its Italian and Finnish subsidiaries, reports La Tribune-Defosses. The Italian subsidiary, which employed 30 people, is being closed due to profitability and administrative problems. Certain customers were paying in 190 days! We therefore decided to close the business at the end of September. Italy will be covered from now on from our telemarketing centre in Montpelier, said Philippe d’Argent, vice-president Europe. D’Argent gave no specific reasons for closing the two-year-old Finnish subsidiary, except in the context of the company’s total restructuring in Europe, the cost of which caused the second-quarter loss. Finland will be covered from Sweden, he said. Also as part of the restructuring, the company is dismissing 30 of 150 employees in Germany. Dell, which employs 1,00 people in Europe, gets 40% of turnover from the region, and the closures are a sharp about-turn for the former go-go company – two years ago it was brandishing new subsidiaries in exotic parts of the world as trophies. Things look a little better in France, where the company has hired six new employees recently.
