Havelock Europa and Plexus to each shed 50 jobs

Meanwhile, US electronics business Plexus Corporation said it is also cutting 50 jobs at its 47,000sq ft manufacturing site in West Lothian.

The Kirkcaldy-based Havelock said the move follows a profit warning last week, in which it signalled a “material” hit to its results due to a significant cutback in spending by its biggest client in the financial services sector.

Havelock had already announced in September that it was cutting about 50 jobs, equivalent to 10 per cent of its staff, to bring its headcount down to 450.

The latest redundancies to hit its Kirkcaldy headquarters, announced to staff this morning, are expected to be made over the next month.

The move follows the loss of a major contract from the Lloyds Banking Group which wiped almost £2 million off the value of Havelock Europa’s shares. Lloyds was Havelock’s largest single customer and revenue streams attributed to Lloyds were worth £14m to Havelock this year.

Chief executive David Ritchie said: “Any decision to reduce jobs is an incredibly difficult one to take but we must respond quickly and decisively to this loss of income for the long-term good of the business and the wider workforce.

“We will, of course, do everything we can to support those colleagues affected over the coming weeks.”

Plexus said it was carrying out its job reduction “reluctantly” but needed to cut its UK capacity to match customer demand due to “changing end-market dynamics, particularly within the oil and gas industry”.

It said the move, once fully implemented, is expected to generate annual cost savings of $1.25 million (£825,000) to $1.7m. It also said the manufacturing-capacity reduction is expected to conclude by the end of its second quarter, in February next year.

Wisconsin-based Plexus — not to be confused with oil and gas group Plexus Holdings — also said the reduction will be limited to its volume manufacturing capabilities in the Pyramids Business Park, off the M8 between Bathgate and Livingston.

The group added that it will keep its “rapid prototyping” capabilities, Livingston design centre and European leadership team offices in the business park.

Oliver Mihm, Plexus Corp regional president in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, stressed that the firm remained dedicated to its presence in Scotland.

“Many of the customer programmes currently supported by the Livingston manufacturing operations will be transferred to our Kelso manufacturing facility,” he added.