Vodafone, Michelin and Reuters to axe jobs

Vodafone, Michelin Tyres, and the news agency Reuters all announced redundancy programmes yesterday as businesses continue to adjust their costs in the face of the uncertain economic environment.

The mobile phone giant is cutting 650 jobs in the UK, while 730 British jobs will go at Michelin and 500 worldwide at Reuters.

Vodafone, led by chief executive Chris Gent, said the redundancies would be completed by January with around a third expected to be at its head office in Newbury, Berkshire. Vodafone said the cuts reflected "our move away from growing customer numbers towards persuading existing customers to use more of our services". Vodafone has 10,000 staff in the UK.

Michelin tyres blamed its decision to axe 730 jobs on the downturn in the American automotive sector. The company is closing its truck tyre factory in Burnley in March with the loss of 450 jobs. A further 280 will go in Stoke-on-Trent, where Michelin will stop steel cord production next September. The announcement comes a year after Michelin announced the end of tyre production at its Potteries plant with the loss of 950 jobs.

The Transport and General Workers' union described Michelin's actions as a "complete betrayal" of trust and blamed the cuts on a failure by Michelin to invest in the UK.

At Reuters, the 500 job losses will be spread across its business worldwide though the UK will not escape. The cuts will affect the editorial operations unlike the 1,100 redundancies announced by the company in July. The cuts will help Reuters, run by new chief executive Tom Glocer, achieve annual savings of £220m, up by £30m on the figure announced in July.

The announcement came as Reuters said it wold cut its full year dividend to 10p per share from 16p in order to increase investment in the business. Reuters' third-quarter figures yesterday showed that the terrorist attacks of 11 September had caused £4m lost revenue at the main Reuters financial division and a further £12m at Instinet, the US-quoted trading platform operation in which Reuters holds an 83 per cent stake. Reuters reported a 4 per cent increase in revenues to £920m for the three months to September. But it revised down its revenue growth forecasts in its core subscription business from 3 per cent in the second half to 1-2 per cent.

On a more positive note Tesco said it hoped to create 3,500 new jobs in the Midlands if it can secure planning permission for eight new stores. The jobs would be in addition to the 12,000 new jobs announced earlier this year, of which 8,000 will be in the UK. The catalogue retailer Argos is set to create 700 more jobs as year as part of a more aggressive store expansion programme. It plans to open 35 stores a year rather than the 13 a year previously planned. Argos, which is part of the GUS retail and financial services group, plans to add 1,600 product lines and sell holidays through its catalogues via a joint venture with a tour operator.