Saint-Gobain plan 4,000 job cuts

Building materials group Saint-Gobain will cut 4,000 jobs this year, mostly in Britain, France, Spain and the US.

The cost cutting measures are expected to save the firm £343m, of which £236m will be saved in 2008.

Several distribution centres could also be closed in France.

Saint-Gobain currently has a workforce of 210,000 worldwide compared with 207,649 at the end of 2007.

In an earnings statement the firm said: “Faced with the gradual deterioration in the international economic environment since summer 2007, the group has stepped up the cost cutting programme put in place for the US in the second half of 2006 and for certain European countries at the end of 2007.”