Taylor Wimpey cuts deepen as fund-raising fails
Staff in Taylor Wimpey's Warrington and Manchester offices face the prospect of further redundancies after the struggling housebuilder said total UK job losses would rise from 600 to 900 as a result of its cost-cutting programme.
An office in Northwich is in the process of being closed with the loss of around 40 jobs; one among 13 of the firm's 39 offices set to close. Nine hundred of the firm's 4,700 workforce will go.
The company would not disclose current staff levels or the likely number of redundancies in Warrington or Manchester offices.
The firm also said it had failed to raise £500m in extra funds through an emergency share issue.
It said it expected the UK housing market to remain weak in 2008 and did not anticipate any short-term recovery. Finance director Peter Johnson will also stand down at the end of 2008.
Taylor Wimpey said that reservations of new houses were 45% lower in the 26 weeks to 29 June.
