JCB says 400 jobs at risk because of overseas construction slowdown in China, Russia, and Brazil
Digger maker JCB has said up to 400 jobs are at risk because of a slowdown in construction overseas.
"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," said chief executive Graeme Macdonald.
"We now need to take difficult but decisive actions to align overheads to lower sales forecasts."
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The Staffordshire-based company said it is consulting staff on voluntary redundancies. It employs 12,500 around the world and if 400 jobs were cut, that would account for around three per cent of the workforce.
In the first six months of the year, the Russian market was down 70 per cent, China 47 per cent and Brazil 36 per cent. Macdonald said parts of Europe were also struggling, with France down by 26 per cent.
"Even the strong growth in the UK and North America has softened due to a fall in market confidence over the summer, which has been prompted to an extent by low oil and commodity prices in countries which depend on these resources to drive economic growth," the company said.
JCB cut 150 jobs last October due to the "uncertainty" of world markets.