Rolls-Royce has said today it will lay off 600 workers within its Marine business, in response to challenging market conditions.
“Today’s announcement follows our Interim Management Statement on May 8th in which we confirmed that the year had started slowly and consequently a drive for further efficiencies is underway,” Rolls-Royce said in a statement.
The Marine business employs around 6,000 people in 34 countries, and while the reductions will be global, around half will be in Norway, where the majority of employees and manufacturing facilities are located.
Mikael Makinen , Rolls-Royce, President – Marine, said: “We are transforming our Marine business and while we are making good progress on cost, the effect of low oil prices means we have to continue to look for further efficiencies.
“It is never an easy decision to propose reductions in our workforce, but it is a sign of the challenging market in which we operate. We will work closely with employees and their representatives as we manage this change.
“The future prospects for the Marine business remain bright, and we are focused on maintaining our position as a technology leader, but we must drive further cost reduction today so that we are ready to grow tomorrow.”
The company says the move will have a broadly neutral impact on profits in 2015 and will generate approximately £25m of benefits from 2016 onwards.