Three factory plant closures and more than 1,300 job losses were announced to the City yesterday, highlighting continuing pressure on British business to cut labour costs and relocate overseas.
Danish dairy group Arla, which makes Lurpak and Anchor butter, said more than 400 jobs would go in the first half of next year as it closes down a dairy in Ruislip, west London, and one in Newcastle.
Closures were widely expected following the group's acquisition of Express Dairies last year. The announcement comes five months after Arla cut 310 jobs with the closure of a dairy in Lancashire and a bottling line in Essex. A new Arla dairy in Leeds has begun production.
Cost savings from the acquisition of Express Dairies were "ahead of schedule", Arla said in a statement. Commenting on the closures, chief executive Neil Davidson said: "The industry had spare capacity ... taking that out was one of the things that made the merger attractive."
Meanwhile, Europe's largest tourism group, TUI, confirmed plans to cut its UK workforce by 8%, with the loss of 800 jobs by the end of the year. The job losses are expected across the group's Lunn Poly travel agency, Thomson tour operator and Britannia airline divisions.
TUI plans to rebrand its Britannia and Thomson fleet of aircraft as Thomsonfly and has promised to invest in extra planes and refurbishment.
The group is struggling to keep pace with changes in holiday booking patterns, as customers are increasingly abandoning high street travel agencies in favour of the internet, television and telephone.
Elsewhere, security group Chubb told investors it was transferring production at a south Wales fire extinguisher factory to China and would be cutting more than 150 jobs. The move will come as a blow to the workers at the plant in Ferndale, who wanted management to give its backing to an alternative proposal that would have seen the factory expanded.
It will go some way to consolidating Chubb's international extinguisher products business and will allow the group to benefit from lower labour costs.
Eric Patry, president of Chubb Continental Europe, said: "Chubb's long history of production in Wales has made this a very difficult decision so we have taken the time to evaluate all our options.
"I believe transferring production to China is the best way for us to continue to provide our customers with a high quality product at a competitive price."
Critics of the government's decision to increase the minimum wage, which comes into force today, are likely to seize on the round of job losses as evidence of pressures on the UK labour market.
The minimum wage is to rise from £4.50 an hour to £4.85.
