Rolls-Royce will accelerate cost reduction programmes in its Marine business and reduce the number of employees by a further 600 by the end of this year in response to challenging market conditions.
The announcement follows an Interim Management Statement on 8 May in which the company confirmed that the year had started slowly and consequently a drive for further efficiencies is underway. The reductions announced are in addition to programmes already underway to consolidate manufacturing at several locations in the UK, USA, Norway, Sweden and South Korea.
The Marine business employs around 6000 people in 34 countries, and while the reductions will be global, around half will be in Norway, where the majority of employees and manufacturing facilities are located.
It is expected the proposals will have a broadly neutral impact on profits in 2015 and generate approximately £25 million of benefits from 2016 onwards.
