Bridon to cut jobs in slack wire market

MORE than 300 jobs may be lost in a pounds 20m to pounds 25m restructuring announced yesterday by Bridon, the Doncaster-based maker and distributor of wire.

Bridon refused to specify the number of redundancies, but did say the job losses would not be confined to the UK, where 2,400 of its 4,400 staff are employed.

The company operates two sites in the US, and others in Belgium, New Zealand, Indonesia, Australia, and the Philippines.

The restructuring should be completed in the autumn. One of the biggest elements involves the transfer of the Doncaster wire operation to the Fox Wire plant in Cleckheaton.

Bridon also warned that trading conditions had not improved since last August's announcement of pounds 1m interim taxable profits. It said little or no profit was earned before tax in the second half. The final dividend, however, is likely to be held at 2.75p for the second year.

Ronald Petersen, who became chief executive last September, said: 'We have to change our product emphasis. We have looked at how we could do it better.'

Bridon has been hit hard over the past three years by strong competition, particularly in the Far East, and by recessionary cuts in infrastructure spending worldwide.

Operating profits in 1989 were pounds 17m, but by 1991 they had fallen to just pounds 700,000, with margins severely eroded by cheap wire produced in the Far East. Turnover in those two years was pounds 304.5m and pounds 319m respectively.

Mr Petersen said Bridon would concentrate more on the higher margin, valued-added distribution products and would redress its approach to the market.

'We are restructuring along the lines of customer needs in global market units rather than on geographic and product structures.'

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