Debenhams is to axe 2,500 jobs across its stores and warehouses as the retailer looks to reduce costs after sales were impacted by the coronavirus lockdown.

The department store business is scrapping the roles of sales manager, visual merchandise manager and selling support manager as part of a management restructuring process.

READ MORE: Aberdeen investors acquire oil services company

The move comes four months after Debenhams collapsed into administration, and comes on the day Holiday Inn owner said it would part ways with 650 of its staff around the world.

Debenhams said it has no plans to shut more stores as part of the restructure.

Hundreds of jobs have already been lost at the retailer since the start of lockdown after it permanently shut 18 stores.

In April, it hired administrators from FRP Advisory in a protective measure against creditors demanding their money.

In May, the company said it would cut hundreds of jobs at its head office to help secure the company's finances.

A Debenhams spokesman said: "We have successfully reopened 124 stores, post-lockdown, and these are currently trading ahead of management expectations.

"At the same time, the trading environment is clearly a long way from returning to normal and we have to ensure our store costs are aligned with realistic expectations.

"Those colleagues affected by redundancy have been informed and we are very grateful to them for their service and commitment to Debenhams.

"Such difficult decisions are being taken by many retailers right now, and we will continue to take all necessary steps to give Debenhams every chance of a viable future."

Insurance giant Prudential has said it will spin off all of its $5 billion (£3.8 billion) American business and pledged to keep a scaled-back headquarters in London.

The group said it would press ahead with a stock market flotation of the Michigan-based Jackson arm with a minority initial public offering (IPO) in the first half of next year to focus solely on fast-growing Asian and African markets.

READ MORE: Royal London pays out £8.5 million in claims to families of Covid-19 victims

Prudential - which had been looking at other options due to the stock market turmoil caused by coronavirus - said it would aim to fully offload the US business through further sell-downs "over time".

The move will leave the group focused purely on Asia and Africa, having already spun off and separately listed its UK and European arm M&G on the London Stock Exchange last year.

Chief executive Mike Wells said the group is "committed" to retaining its headquarters in London, where it will keep a primary stock market listing alongside Hong Kong after the Jackson IPO.

Mr Wells declined to give details on the impact on jobs at its London headquarters, where it has around 200 staff, but said it would look to have head offices that are "appropriately-sized" for the business.

Prudential added that if market conditions do not support a flotation of Jackson next year, it will look to demerge the group's stake in the business to existing shareholders.

Gross premiums earned fell 6% to $19.8 billion (£15.1 billion), but the group said it was a "resilient" performance amid tough conditions for new business due to the Covid-19 crisis.

Underlying earnings soared by 14% across Asia despite the challenges of the pandemic.

Shares in the group lifted 2% after the announcement.

The number of people in work in Scotland fell by 15,000 between April and June as the impact of lockdown hit, according to the latest figures.

The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in employment north of the border fell over the quarter to 74.3% (2.651 million), data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicates.

READ MORE: Scottish heat battery pioneer wins backing from international investors

The unemployment rate rose over that period to 4.5% with 124,000 people out of work.

This was higher than the UK unemployment rate of 3.9%.

The number of people aged over 16 in employment in Scotland fell by 15,000 over the quarter while the number of people out of work rose by 11,000.

Business Minister Jamie Hepburn said: "For the period April to June 2020, Scotland's employment rate estimate fell over the quarter to 74.3% and the unemployment rate estimate rose over the quarter to 4.5%.

"These statistics cover a full three months of lockdown measures before some businesses started to reopen but still do not reflect the full impact of the pandemic on the labour market as the job retention scheme is continuing to help support many people remain in employment.

"We continue to call on the UK Government to extend the job retention scheme, particularly for those hardest-hit sectors, for example, travel, tourism and hospitality, which face significant long-term challenges likely to remain when the scheme ends in October."

He added: "We have provided a package of support to businesses that totals over £2.3 billion to keep companies in business and people in jobs.

"This provides long-term certainty for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
"However, we also need to ensure support for those who have already lost, or are at risk of losing, their job, and those looking for work and have already committed a further £100 million for employability and training support."

Mr Hepburn also announced £10 million for a range of measures to recruit and retain apprentices.

Around 730,000 UK workers have been removed from the payrolls of British companies since March when the coronavirus lockdown began.

The ONS said that employment rates have continued to decline in the last month as another 81,000 jobs fell off payrolls across the country, pushing the number of employed to just under 28.3 million.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: "Today's labour market stats make it clear that our unprecedented support measures, including the furlough and self-employed support schemes, are working to safeguard millions of jobs and livelihoods that could otherwise have been lost.

"I've always been clear that we can't protect every job but through our Plan for Jobs we have a clear plan to protect, support and create jobs to ensure that nobody is left without hope."

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: "The impact of coronavirus is again clearly seen in today's figures and we can expect that to continue for some time.

"That's why the UK Government has guaranteed an additional £6.5 billion this year to spend on public services and support businesses in Scotland.

"We have also loaned more than £2.3 billion to 65,000 Scottish businesses and supported almost 900,000 jobs in Scotland through the pioneering furlough and self-employed schemes."

He added: "Understandably many people are concerned about the future which is why we've set out our Plan for Jobs, to protect, create and support employment across the UK as we build back our economy.

"The Eat Out to Help Out scheme is also supporting thousands of jobs in the hospitality sector and next month we are launching the £2 billion Kickstart scheme to create thousands of high quality jobs for young people."

Here is a list of some of the major British employers that have announced major job cuts since the start of the lockdown.

- Major potential job losses announced since March 23:

Total: 170,698
August 11 - InterContinental Hotels - 650 worldwide
August 11 - Debenhams - 2,500
August 7 - Evening Standard - 115
August 6 - Travelex - 1,300
August 6 - Wetherspoons - 110 to 130
August 5 - M&Co - 380
August 5 - Arsenal FC - 55
August 5 - WH Smith - 1,500
August 4 - Dixons Carphone - 800
August 4 - Pizza Express - 1,100 at risk
August 3 - Hays Travel - up to 878
August 3 - DW Sports - 1,700 at risk
July 31 - Byron - 651
July 30 - Pendragon - 1,800
July 29 - Waterstones - unknown number of head office roles
July 28 - Selfridges - 450
July 27 - Oak Furnitureland - 163 at risk
July 23 - Dyson - 600 in UK, 300 overseas
July 22 - Mears - fewer than 200
July 20 - Marks & Spencer - 950 at risk
July 17 - Azzurri Group (owns Zizzi and Ask Italian) - up to 1,200
July 16 - Genting - 1,642 at risk
July 16 - Burberry - 150 in UK, 350 overseas
July 15 - Banks Mining - 250 at risk
July 15 - Buzz Bingo - 573 at risk
July 14 - Vertu - 345
July 14 - DFS - up to 200 at risk
July 9 - General Electric - 369
July 9 - Eurostar - unknown number
July 9 - Boots - 4,000
July 9 - John Lewis - 1,300 at risk
July 9 - Burger King - 1,600 at risk
July 7 - Reach (owns Daily Mirror and Daily Express newspapers) - 550
July 6 - Pret a Manger - 1,000 at risk
July 2 - Casual Dining Group (owns Bella Italia and Cafe Rouge) - 1,909
July 1 - SSP (owns Upper Crust) - 5,000 at risk
July 1 - Arcadia (owns TopShop) - 500
July 1 - Harrods - 700
July 1 - Virgin Money - 300
June 30 - Airbus - 1,700
June 30 - TM Lewin - 600
June 30 - Smiths Group - "some job losses"
June 25 - Royal Mail - 2,000
June 24 - Jet2 - 102
June 24 - Swissport - 4,556
June 24 - Crest Nicholson - 130
June 23 - Shoe Zone - unknown number of jobs in head office
June 19 - Aer Lingus - 500
June 17 - HSBC - unknown number of jobs in UK, 35,000 worldwide
June 15 - Jaguar Land Rover - 1,100
June 15 - Travis Perkins - 2,500
June 12 - Le Pain Quotidien - 200
June 11 - Heathrow - at least 500
June 11 - Bombardier - 600
June 11 - Johnson Matthey - 2,500
June 11 - Centrica - 5,000
June 10 - Quiz - 93
June 10 - The Restaurant Group (owns Frankie and Benny's) - 3,000
June 10 - Monsoon Accessorise - 545
June 10 - Everest Windows - 188
June 8 - BP - 10,000 worldwide
June 8 - Mulberry - 375
June 5 - Victoria's Secret - 800 at risk
June 5 - Bentley - 1,000
June 4 - Aston Martin - 500
June 4 - Lookers - 1,500
May 29 - Belfast International Airport - 45
May 28 - Debenhams (in second announcement) - "hundreds" of jobs
May 28 - EasyJet - 4,500 worldwide
May 26 - McLaren - 1,200
May 22 - Carluccio's - 1,000
May 21 - Clarks - 900
May 20 - Rolls-Royce - 9,000
May 20 - Bovis Homes - unknown number
May 19 - Ovo Energy - 2,600
May 19 - Antler - 164
May 15 - JCB - 950 at risk
May 13 - Tui - 8,000 worldwide
May 12 - Carnival UK (owns P&O Cruises and Cunard) - 450
May 11 - P&O Ferries - 1,100 worldwide
May 5 - Virgin Atlantic - 3,150
May 1 - Ryanair - 3,000 worldwide
April 30 - Oasis Warehouse - 1,800
April 29 - WPP - unknown number
April 28 - British Airways - 12,000
April 23 - Safran Seats - 400
April 23 - Meggitt - 1,800 worldwide
April 21 - Cath Kidston - 900
April 17 - Debenhams - 422
March 31 - Laura Ashley - 268
March 30 - BrightHouse - 2,400 at risk
March 27 - Chiquito - 1,500 at risk

You can now have the bulletin and the top business news stories sent direct to your email inbox twice-daily for free. Tick Business Bulletin AM edition and Business Bulletin PM edition, and Business Week for the weekly round-up on Sunday, in the newsletters section here to sign up:

https://www.heraldscotland.com/my/account/register/