Mettlach, Germany, August 2--Villeroy & Boch, the German ceramics group, is scaling up its job-cutting plan, and now envisages around 300 job cuts in the current year, according to a press source citing management.
The company, which has already announced plans to cut 70 jobs in its sanitaryware division and 140 in its tile division, now also plans a further 90 cuts in administration and table porcelain.
The company reports a 4 per cent turnover drop to 445.1m euros for the first half of the current year. Pre-tax profit is reported to have remained fairly stable at 7m euros. For the year as a whole, it expects turnover to be lower than that for 2004 owing to a marked drop in turnover for the tile division, while, in view of restructuring costs, operating income is also expected to be lower than that shown last year.
