Vebra and Core staff in company restructure talks

Wednesday 16th September 2009

The largest of the UK property software companies is poised to make redundancies after scaling back staff from 199 at the start of the year to 173.

Staff at the Guardian-owned business GMG Property Services, which includes the Vebra and Core brands, are currently in a consultation as part of a restructure. The company is planning to centralise all 30 of its support staff in York, moving some roles from Luton and Frome.

A spokeswoman said eight jobs were at risk, but five new positions would be available.

he said: “We remain committed to all of our residential products – Estatecraft, Solex, GMW, Encore32, EncoreLive and VebraLive – from a development, support and training perspective.

“The restructures have centred around getting the best skills all in one place. We have also taken the opportunity to fit out all our office locations with class-leading training facilities, so clients can now attend courses in Luton, York and Wolverhampton.”

The Guardian group recently sold the website Thinkproperty, originally part of Vebra,  to Zoopla. It has also made massive cost cuts across its titles, particularly amongst local newspapers where it has axed many jobs this year. There have also been persistent rumours that the group could close its flagship Observer newspaper, after posting pre-tax losses of £89.8m.

Vebra and Core were previously independently owned competitors. Core brought out new software, EncoreLive, which received critical acclaim. Earlier this year, Vebra rebadged the same software to give it a Vebra name but has been criticised by its rivals for not bringing out a new product of its own for around three years.

But the spokeswoman said: “Since we launched VebraLive in April we have achieved, on average, a sale every other day and we are increasing our sales force to keep up with demand.

“We felt strongly that the EncoreLive product was best in class and the decision we took was to rebadge the best technology under the strongest brand. We didn’t hide that fact when we were questioned on it back in April, and based on the level of business we are doing, do not regret the decision.”