Fears for jobs as Glaxo ups cost savings
DRUGS giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which employs around 800 in Tees Valley, did nothing to allay job cut fears yesterday after saying it would up its cost saving target by £500m.
It had been rumoured that the company, which announced full year results yesterday, was poised to axe 4,000 jobs across its European and US workforce.
GSK made 200 redundant at its Barnard Castle site in 2008, but it said it would “try to preserve jobs” as it continued to restructure the business and reduce R&D infrastructure costs.
A spokesperson for the company said he had been given no indication that the Barnard Castle site would be affected by another round of redundancies.
The cost saving announcement came as the company announced profits were up 18% to £7.9m in the year to December 31. Revenues nudged up 3% to £28.4m, while an earnings per share of 109.1p marked a 23% rise on the previous year.
