Oct 05, 2015
Rolls-Royce is slashing 400 jobs from its marine division, blaming the fall in the price of oil and a need to cut costs.
The engineering group announced the cuts in a statement on Monday.
The cuts follow 600 factory job going earlier this year. The new round of redundancies will reportedly hit factory managers.
Mikael Makinen, president of the company's marine division, said in a statement on Monday: "Reducing our workforce is never an easy decision, but the continued weak oil price, and the need to become more competitive, means it is necessary, if we are to build a strong base from which we can successfully grow this business in the future."
Rolls-Royce's Marine division services and supplies the oil and gas industry and benefitted from the boom in the sector up to 2013. But the collapse in oil prices last year has led to a slowdown, which has a knock-on effect for Rolls.
The company expects the cuts will bring full-year savings of £40 million ($61 million), of which most "will be invested in increased R&D activity," according to the statement. The marine business employs a total of around 5,800 people.
Rolls-Royce is struggling. The group had its fourth profit warning in 18 months in July and investors are concerned that a strategy to diversify away from making aircraft engines isn't paying off.
The company's share price has fallen by around 25% in the past six month
.
Source: Business Insider