Electric vehicle group to cut jobs

Jun 24 2008 By Andrew Mernin

ALMOST 130 workers at an engineering plant owned by electric vehicles group Tanfield face an uncertain future after the company revealed plans to cut its workforce.

The firm has put staff at its plant in Tanfield Lea, County Durham, on redundancy notice as it conducts a 30-day consultation process.

The group is expected to axe about 30 jobs at the sub-contracting engineering factory which is on the site where Tanfield started life before developing its Washington headquarters.

A source close to the company said: “Certain customers, who represent a significant amount of the work conducted by the engineering operations of the Tanfield Group plc, are experiencing a downturn in demand for their products.

“The group is therefore restructuring its operations, with a view to maintaining profitability at the Tanfield Lea site.”

The company confirmed there would be job cuts at the plant – less than six months after it took on 30 new members of staff.

On Sunday it was reported that Tanfield was lining up a new heavyweight non-executive director and a “tier one” broker to repair its relations with the City.

The company is expected to respond to increasing pressure from leading shareholders, who are unhappy about the company’s share price, which has fallen by 65% in the past 12 months.

The AIM-listed company has faced recent criticism from the City amid claims of a lack of disclosure and poor investor relations.