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Jobs jeopardy amid sales fall
Job threat ... IDS in Didcot Way, Boldon
A DOUBLE employment threat hung over jobs in South Tyneside today.
Previously booming medical test kit company Immunodiagnostic Systems (IDS) could axe jobs because of falling sales.
Employing some 300 people, including more than 100 staff at its headquarters at Boldon Business Park in Boldon Colliery, the company is offering voluntary redundancy packages.
Meanwhile, jobs could also go in the borough’s retail sector after the sale of collapsed clothing firm Bonmarché, which has shops in Jarrow and South Shields.
IDS, which hoped to boost local employment this year, could now cut jobs as it aims to make savings of £2m a year, after issuing its second profit warning in recent months.
The downturn in the company’s fortunes is the result of more competition for its core vitamin D testing kits, particularly in the US.
A company spokesman said today: “We will be implementing a cost-reduction programme across the group, to effect £2m savings – or 10 per cent of the company’s costs – this year, following a slowdown in sales.
“While IDS will try to minimise the effects of this, we will be offering staff voluntary redundancies and this will affect the Boldon plant, where some 110 people are employed.”
The spokesman added that compulsory redundancies could follow, but their extent would depend on the response to the voluntary packages.
Jobs could also go at clothing shops in South Tyneside after a company buy-out.
Fashion chain Bonmarché, which is part of the collapsed Peacock Group, has been sold as part of a deal that will lead to 1,400 job losses and 160 store closures across the UK.
Private equity firm Sun European Partners has bought the national women’s clothing retailer for an undisclosed sum.
Bonmarché has stores in the Viking Centre, Jarrow, and King Street, South Shields, but the company has so far not released details of which stores are to shut.
Part of the debt-hit Peacock Group, Bonmarché was kept out of administration so that takeover talks could continue.
The deal means the Bonmarché name will survive on the high street, with its new owners set to write off some of the company’s debts, but about 1,400 jobs are set to go.
A buyer is still being sought for clothing chain Peacocks, which has a store in the Viking Centre, Jarrow.
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Weather for Jarrow
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
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Sunny spells
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Comments
There are 3 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
geordie999
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 07:23 PMmore grim news ..put a spin on that one ....if you can , where are those rose tinted glasses ?
hayley4315
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 04:32 PMmetro radios £1 million worth of jobs will pay one years salary costs of 40-50 people, why not just give here?
Heinrich Scrotwengler von Grossteschattenburg
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 03:20 PMYep, South Tynesdie desperately needs a 'rose tinted spectacle' factory...
Page 1 of 1
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