U.K.-based equipment manufacturer JCB said it may cut up to 400 jobs after a 70-percent slump in demand for its equipment in Russia, according to U.K. media reports. JCB also reported a 36-percent decline in orders from Brazil and 47 percent from China. The company also said demand dropped 26 percent in France.
“Market conditions in the construction equipment sector have been difficult for some time, but they have worsened quite rapidly in recent weeks,” said JCB chief executive Graeme Macdonald. “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 U.K. businesses.”
JCB has 11 facilities in the U.K., with the majority in Staffordshire.
The company said the jobs will be eliminated within 45 days. The company will seek voluntary retirements first to limit the number of compulsory job losses.
JCB said that even in North America and the U.K., where growth has been strong, conditions have softened because of a fall in market confidence over the summer, prompted by low oil and commodity prices in countries that depend on these resources to drive economic growth.
