Elcom Group has slashed around four per cent of UK jobs following the proposed merger of its two ecommerce subsidiaries. The US-owned reseller and ecommerce software house cut 24 jobs before today officially uniting subsidiaries elcom.com and Elcom Systems. The company said the redundancies were designed to put Elcom on a stronger footing, but that the merger was not the only reason behind the job cuts. Elcom, based in Slough, claimed there were no further plans for job cuts but warned that the UK IT industry would not escape from the overall slowing down of the economy. According to Elcom chairman Jim Rousou, the cuts were a one-off action needed to trim costs. Rousou told The Register: "This is something that will happen to a lot of companies. It’s good management in the face of recession to make sure our cost base is in shape for 1999." He said the cuts were not solely connected to today’s merger which combined Elcom Systems, the company’s existing e-commerce subsidiary, with elcom.com, formed in December. Through today’s merger elcom.com will take on the infrastructure and technology development areas of Elcom Systems. The e-commerce automated procurement technology will also be owned by elcom.com. ®