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Plant maker JCB is planning on cutting up to 150 jobs before Christmas after experiencing a downturn in global construction equipment demand.
Most of the jobs are at JCB’s Staffordshire sites, with a small number at the plants in Derbyshire and Wrexham.
A 45-day consultation with staff starts next month, with the jobs set to go by the middle of December.
Chief executive Graeme Macdonald said: “There is a growing consensus that a global economic slowdown could be starting and it is clear JCB’s full year sales in 2014 will be less than anticipated.
“The outlook is unlikely to improve and consequently our cost base is being restructured to align overheads to reduced sales volumes, which will regrettably mean up to 150 staff redundancies.”
A 22% drop in the Russian construction equipment market following the imposition of sanctions after the Ukraine crisis, coupled with a 20% fall in the Latin American market, has had a direct impact on JCB’s sales.
He added that the changing political landscape in the Middle East had also undermining market confidence, while the economic outlook for the Eurozone was worsening.
