UK construction equipment maker JCB said today it is set to cut 684 jobs, and that production in the first three months of the year will plunge 75 per cent on the year earlier period.
JCB said in a statement the job cuts in England and Wales were due to the lack of credit available from banks to fund machine purchases and "continuing low confidence."
The Staffordshire-based company also said the anticipated upturn in the second quarter now "shows no sign of materialising."
The company's chief executive, Matthew Taylor, said the company had forecasted in November that it would experience a moderate second quarter recovery in 2009.
JCB, which employs about 4,800 in the UK, said the latest job cuts follow a round of 1,000 redundancies announced since July.
Reuters