Job losses to come says Taywood boss

Major job cuts and heavy reorganisation are imminent at Taylor Woodrow Construction, which this week reported losses estimated by analysts to be as much as œ8 million.

The grim announcement came in this week's annual results statement from Taylor Woodrow chairman, Colin Parsons, which although reporting a 68% rise in group pre-tax profits to œ50.8 million, made gloomy reading for construction workforces everywhere.

'All our indications are that volume is deteriorating in UK construction,' said Parsons. 'The pressure on margins is becoming even more severe with the present over-supply position. Therefore we will shortly be implementing further changes in our UK construction business which will include substantial cuts in overhead and the curtailment of operations where we see no prospect of managing a profitable business in a reasonable timescale.'

Speculation on where the axe will fall among Taywood's 2,000 UK construction workforce centres on general contracting and subcontracting activities, with Jonathan James and Costelloe among the prime candidates.

Taywood cut staff heavily at the start of 1993, and a spokesman said:'The last review was in the expectation of some recovery. It has not come and we are forced to take further action.'

Taywood's Construction division profits were up to œ4 million from œ1.3 million last time. But this was on the back of an œ8 million contribution from the sales of Eurotunnel shares, and a strong overseas performance.

n More results see pages 2 & 16