StepStone liquidation move in UK

ONLINE recruitment group StepStone is putting its British interests into liquidation with the loss of 135 jobs at its Hammersmith office.

It is also to end its £4m-a-year sponsorship of Channel 4 Sport. Cricket, Italian football, motorsport, horse racing and the Tour de France benefited from the biggest-ever sponsorship deal by a dotcom. Throughout Europe, StepStone is cutting its staff to 350 from 875.

It will continue to be based in Norway and plans a reorganisation to concentrate on its three other most successful markets, Germany, Belgium and Denmark. It has appointed Colin Tenwick chief executive to succeed Giles Clarke, who resigned in June. Tenwick is former vice president of Red Hat Europe.

The group has cash resources of e22.5 million (£13.9 million), which will enable it to carry on trading while completing a fund-raising exercise, details of which it plans to give to shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting.