Procter & Gamble to cut 280 jobs in Ireland; Skincare production to move to Poland

Irish
Procter & Gamble to cut 280 jobs in Ireland; Skincare production to move to Poland
By Finfacts Team
Mar 7, 2007, 10:59

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Procter & Gamble, the global consumer products group, announced to workers at its Irish plant at Nenagh, County Tipperary, today that it plans to cut 280 jobs from the workforce of 500, by the end of 2009. The company is to relocate some of its production to Poland.

Procter & Gamble is retaining its cosmetic production in Ireland but it has decided to transfer its skincare product manufacturing to Eastern Europe - nearer the market for that line of business, according to the company.

On Tuesday when workers were advised of today's meeting, there were fears that the plant would be shut down.

Skincare production will move to a new plant which is planned for Lotez in Poland. The Polish plant is expected to be completed in 2009.

In a statement this morning, the company 's management said it was committed to focusing all its efforts on helping those employees affected by the decision, and would work with the unions and employees to prepare for the transition ahead.

The plant manager Mindy Thompson said this was a very difficult decision taken on the basis of market trends and was not a reflection of the high quality work of the workers at Nenagh.

The Nenagh plant, makes products sold under the Hugo Boss, Oil of Olay and Max Factor brand names for the global consumer products giant, which was reported last month to have agreed to invest 157 million zlotys ($53.08 million) in a cosmetics factory in central Poland. The Polish daily Rzeczpospolita reported that the factory should open in 2008 in Aleksandrow Lodzki, a small city, and employ 200 people.

Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Ireland) Limited, made a profit before tax of €7.6 million on a turnover of €52.4 million in the tear to June 2005. The manufacturing company received interest of €912,344 in relation to a loan to a group company.

Procter & Gamble Holdings Limited, which had no direct staff made a profit of $633.4 million in 2005. Another company, Procter & Gamble Investments Limited reported a profit of $519 million.

The profit of $1.1 billion likely relates to the use of Ireland as a tax haven for channelling profits from other overseas operations.

The company has been in Nenagh since 1985 when the Richardson Vicks factory was acquired. In 1992, an extension was added to the plant for the production of cosmetics and in 1999, following uncertainty about a European rationalisation programme, the Government approved support from IDA Ireland for a €27m (Ł21m) expansion programme to bring the headcount to 600 employees at the plant that was to become the group’s European centre for skincare products.