Chains blame lack of credit from banks for poor position.
LARGE-SCALE job losses were announced at an array of well-known firms yesterday, with at least two household names laying the blame directly at the door of banks for failing to supply credit.
Machinery giant JCB revealed almost 700 workers would lose their jobs at sites in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wrexham in north Wales, in addition to 1000 redundancies announced since July, after admitting it could not secure finance. Last year, workers cut their hours in a bid to save jobs.
Meanwhile, the future of 850 staff at furniture retailer Land of Leather was in doubt after it called in administrators. The Kent-based firm was forced to appoint Deloitte after efforts to secure additional funding and sell the business failed.
Land of Leather has been crippled by a slump in demand for "big-ticket" goods as consumers come under pressure and house prices tumble.
"The company has made every effort to reduce costs and conserve cash, but market conditions have continued to be difficult and the results from the January sale have been very disappointing," the firm said, adding that its funding efforts had failed due to "exceptionally difficult trading conditions and the lack of liquidity in the banking system". The company is debt-free but was unable to secure working capital.
The news came on one of the blackest days for British industry in recent times. Scots delicatessen chain McLeish Brothers went bust, with the immediate loss of almost 140 jobs at six outlets in Aberdeen Dundee, Edinburgh and Glenrothes. It is understood to have hit major difficulties after its main investor, HBOS, changed its mind on a £5.5m loan to fund expansion plans.
Around 1000 jobs are to go in Manchester and Gloucester with the closure of two sites operated by logistics giant Wincanton.
Meanwhile, 367 staff at troubled china and crystal maker Waterford Wedgwood lost their jobs, following last week's announcement that the Staffordshire-based company, which has been in existence for 450 years, had called in administrators.
"The business will be continuing to trade as normal, and the administrators are continuing discussions with parties who have expressed an interest in purchasing the business," said joint administrator Angus Martin. "Every effort is being made to avoid further redundancies across the business."
Elsewhere, Newcastle Productions, which makes and supplies Findus frozen foods, also went bust, putting 420 jobs at risk, while in yet another blow, bookshop Waterstone's revealed plans to make an unspecified number of redundancies after moving to a new distribution system. The announcement comes at a time of difficult trading for the chain, which last month blamed poor non-fiction demand for a drop in sales.
The only positive news came from supermarket chain Morrisons, which unveiled plans to create 5000 jobs this year. The UK's fourth largest supermarket currently has 117,000 staff across 382 stores. Morrisons said the plans were in line with its previously stated target of increasing selling space by one million square feet over three years.
The supermarket added that the specific locations and nature of the new jobs had not been revealed.
Norman Pickavance, the supermarket's human resources director, said: "Even in these challenging economic conditions, Morrisons is committed to hiring and training new people to keep retail as the engine room of the economy and support our continuing growth."
Supermarket rival Sainsbury's said in its Christmas trading update last week that the group would create 4000 jobs this year. Iceland, which bought 51 stores from the administrators of collapsed retailer Woolworths, also plans to create 2500 jobs.
