Building products supplier Heywood Williams has revealed it has cut around 100 jobs in the UK after it cut almost a quarter of its global workforce.With the building industry in the doldrums and many projects on hold or scaled down, the Halifax-based company, which distributes products across Europe and the US, said sales for 2008 were down around 13% compared to the previous year, to £219m, while like-for-like sales were down 14%.In a bid to bring down costs, Heywood reduced its worldwide headcount by more than 23%, 309 jobs, bringing its workforce down to around 1,000 people.Around 100 of the redundancies were in the UK, with most taking place last year across the company’s operations, with the last 30 to be completed this month at its factory in Tamworth, Staffordshire.The company said in a statement ``All the markets that the group services declined sharply in 2008 and trading conditions were very tough throughout the year.``The markets have declined due to the global credit crunch and its impact on consumer confidence.”It said results for the year will show a loss, in line with market expectations, and that it was in talks with its banks to arrange ``appropriate covenants“ for 2009 and 2010.Read
