Marshalls to cut 250 jobs in savings move

HOLLY WILLIAMS

BUILDING products supplier

Marshalls is axing around another 250 jobs and closing a factory in Scotland after sales dived due to a housing market slowdown.

The group said the cuts are part of plans to save £9m a year, which will see it shut a factory in South Lanarkshire and reducing shifts and production at other sites and restructuring its commercial team.

The role reductions add to about 150 job losses at the end of last year.

Yorkshire-headquartered Marshalls announced the latest cull as it warned over full-year profits, with a result in the final six months set to be “markedly” lower than the first half, dashing hopes of a recovery. The alert sent shares tumbling by as much as 10 per cent.

Marshalls said like-for-like sales slumped by 13 per cent in the six months to June 30, while it expects to report a 27 per cent slump in interim underlying pretax profits, to around £33m.

It said it has faced “persistent weakness in new build housing and private housing repair maintenance and improvement which are key end markets for the group”.

Activity in Britain’s housebuilding sector has slowed down rapidly, with developers cutting home completions as buyer demand has fallen due to soaring mortgage rates. PA