Britain’s JCB to cut up to 400 jobs
A sharp fall in orders has resulted in JCB announcing plans for redundancies across the UK
The UK-based construction-equipment firm JCB plans to cut up to 400 jobs amid what it described as a “perfect storm” in global markets.
There has been a marked slowdown in recent weeks, particularly in the emerging markets, resulting in a sharp fall in machine orders, according to a JCB statement reported by KHL International.
Employees at JCB have reportedly been briefed that positions are at risk across the UK, and the company has started a consultation process with staff over the proposed redundancies.
CEO Graeme Macdonald said: “Market conditions in the construction equipment sector have been difficult for some time, but they have worsened quite rapidly in recent weeks.
“The situation is not about to improve, certainly not in the short term, so we now need to take difficult but decisive actions to align overheads to lower sales forecasts. Regrettably, this will result in up to 400 staff positions becoming redundant across our UK businesses.”
Macdonald said there was a “perfect storm” impacting global markets, according to the BBC.
Company performance across the first six months of the year has seen the market in Russia fall by 70%, Brazil by 36% and China by 47%. Strong growth in the UK and North America had slowed as a result of a fall in market confidence over the summer, caused in part by low oil and commodity prices.
JCB said that it would attempt to minimise the impact by considering voluntary redundancies.
