Jobs loss threat for engineers

Renishaw share price

Staff at a measuring equipment factory in Gloucestershire have been warned to expect redundancies.

Workers at Renishaw in Wotton-Under-Edge were put on a four-day week in February and managers asked them to work extra hours voluntarily.

In a statement on Wednesday, managers said the company would need to make 500 staff redundant worldwide, with the majority from the UK.

In early trading on Wednesday, Renishaw's share price dropped by 20%.

The company said trading conditions had deteriorated further since it published its half-year results in January and that the global recession was continuing to hit its customers.

Sales fall

Renishaw said sales had been particularly affected by the fall in demand for capital goods in sectors such as car makers, which it believes is not likely to recover in the short term.

"Monthly sales have continued to decline and the group has experienced an operating loss in January and February," the firm said.

"The board does not expect an improvement during the remainder of the financial year ending on 30 June and as a result expects to record an operating loss (before exceptional items) in the order of �10m for the second half.

"We are hoping to be able to limit the number of proposed redundancies and revisions may be made depending on the financial performance of the company over the coming months."

Chief executive and chairman, Sir David McMurtry, added: "It is with great personal regret that, due to the exceptional and unprecedented global recession, we have to impose this process on our employees who have always shown great loyalty."

Renishaw, which employs 2,240 people around the world, said most of its 1,500-strong UK workforce was based at four sites in Gloucestershire