Apr 17 2009
Uponor has continued to introduce new rationalisation and cost reduction measures, with the target of adjusting operations to the continuous low demand in the building and construction sector. The measures mainly involve the company's residential building business in Europe.
Today, the Uponor subsidiary in Finland, Uponor Suomi Oy, informed its personnel of new statutory consultative negotiations on temporary lay-offs affecting all of its 360 employees for a period of two months at most. The negotiation process will take some 6 weeks, and the exact number and timing of the lay-offs as well as the way how they will be implemented will be defined more closely during the process. The lay-offs may end up being shorter than currently planned if the necessary cost savings are achieved through other means or if the markets start to show signs of recovery.
Uponor has carried out several other similar measures during the first quarter of 2009, for example in Sweden, Spain and in Great Britain. In January, the company announced staff reductions affecting 52 people in Virsbo, Sweden. The management and employees in the company's building solutions business in Sweden also agreed on temporary cuts in salaries and working hours during a period of 10 weeks. Furthermore, 19 persons were affected by staff reductions in Spain and Portugal, in addition to those carried out last year. In Great Britain, the company recently announced a reduction need of 19 persons at most, to be realised during April.
Uponor will publish its interim results for the first quarter of 2009 on 29 April.