After liaising for over a week with David Carson of Deloitte who was appointed Receiver at Waterford Crystal, John Foley, CEO of Waterford Crystal & President of Waterford Wedgwood USA, stepped down week ending 18 Jan/09. With no employer, he formally resigned what had been his executive positions & his directorships of Waterford Wedgwood plc & all of its subsidiaries. On resigning, John Foley said: "While the past number of months have been difficult & the events of last week have been & continue to be devastating for everyone associated with Waterford Crystal, I am proud that the management & workforce worked tirelessly for the continuation of the company." "I am hopeful that, under new ownership, the brand & the Irish dimension of the business will continue in the long-term." "Despite the many obvious issues in the business, the Waterford brand continues to be the market leader in the US, Ireland and Britain and, although market conditions have been extremely difficult, the brand is as strong as it ever has been". "One of the major problems in the past number of years has been the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar which has cost in excess of EUR 100 million in operating profit since 1999 in Waterford and while we endeavoured to offset this impact by reducing costs, resulting in 1,000 people leaving the Irish operation and some 1,500 in total worldwide, the downturn in the markets in 2008 had a major impact on our business". "I would like to thank the board, the management team and all our employees, past and present, for the support given to me in my time with Waterford and wish them well in the future".
