HP Financial Services expands its operations in Leixlip, Co. Kildare

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin TD today (Tuesday 7th March 2006) announced that Hewlett-Packard Financial Services, one of the world’s leading captive financial services companies, is to expand its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) headquarters in Leixlip, Co. Kildare, with the centralisation of further activities at the facility. Supported by IDA Ireland, 110 high value financial services jobs will be created by the end of 2006, mostly for graduates with financial, marketing, multilingual and customer relationship skills.

Hewlett-Packard International Bank plc, is a fully licensed bank, located at the Leixlip headquarters. It is one of the largest IFSC banks in Ireland with an after-tax profit of €50 million in 2005. It allows HP Financial Services to offer information technology (IT) equipment financing solutions to Hewlett-Packard’s customers, currently on a pan-European basis. HP Financial Services currently employs 250 people in Leixlip.

Minister Martin said “This investment is very significant as it further demonstrates the opportunities available for one of the world’s leading companies to develop their existing Irish operations across all areas of business activity. Hewlett-Packard is a major presence in Ireland employing over 4,000 people in a variety of functions - manufacturing, software development, R&D, sales and marketing. The decision to centralise additional responsibilities at the Leixlip headquarters will further enhance the strategic role of the Irish operation in the HP Financial Services business”.

Paul Sheeran, Managing Director of Hewlett-Packard International Bank plc, said: “Lifecycle financial services is fuelling new growth within the IT industry and as such is a key priority area for Hewlett-Packard. Our customer base is increasingly looking for packages that reduce their total cost of ownership on IT infrastructure. Therefore, a core part of our strategy is to ensure we differentiate ourselves by offering innovative and flexible financial options to add value.”

“Centralising our operations will allow HP Financial Services to maximise the use of our banking licence here in Ireland, which enables us to penetrate the European market very effectively while also introducing significant economies of scale. The outlook for this business is very positive and we expect this investment to yield significant growth in financing volumes going forward,” added Mr. Sheeran.

According to Mr. Sheeran, the influencing factors in the choice of Ireland for the EMEA headquarters included the requirement for an educated and skilled professional workforce. “The experience of Hewlett-Packard in Ireland, where we employ more than 4,000 people, gives us first hand knowledge of the quality of the people here, and that was certainly a key factor. Other factors included the strong support from IDA Ireland, the highly respected regulatory environment and Ireland’s excellent reputation as a base for financial services companies.”