Carpet maker Victoria to make redundancies
Carpet maker Victoria is looking to shift some production away from its Kidderminster factory to two other sites in the UK with the loss of more than 60 jobs.
A letter was given to employees at the 122-year-old company's head office in Worcester Road on Friday morning explaining the plans.
Victoria has begun a consultation over the proposed redundancies with tufting and backing functions potentially moving to other sites.
The company said that it was not moving out of the town and would be looking to increase its distribution operations at the site.
In the letter from managing director Phil Hartley workers were told: “It is good business expediency as a leading, broad-based group to ensure that we produce in a way that makes us as competitive as we can be, if not more so than our competitors.”
He concludes: “The strategic decision to make the changes here at Kidderminster is clearly very unfortunate for this site, I regret that it has come to this.”
The Victoria group has been growing through buying other carpets and floorings businesses in recent years.
It recently said that underlying pre-tax profits for its last financial year to April 1 would be better than originally expected with its performance benefitting from the integration of recent acquisitions in the UK and Australia, which were improving profit margins and overheads.
It made pre-tax profit of £9.3 million on sales of £255.2m for the 2015-2016 financial year. It is due to release the 2016-2017 figures on July 26.
A new group chief executive Philippe Hamers started with Victoria on March 20.
In December Victoria agreed a £20 million deal for Australian hardwood and underlay manufacturer Dunlop Flooring and in September last year bought Bradford underlay specialists Ezi Floor for £13m.
Headed by executive chairman Geoff Wilding, who took over Victoria following a bitter boardroom battle five years ago, it has boosted revenue in recent years with its takeover strategy, including Quest Carpets and Interfloor Group in 2015.
The business employs around 200 people at its core Kidderminster factory and is the biggest flooring manufacturer in the UK, and the second biggest in Australia.
It bought Westex Carpets in 2013, Abingdon Flooring the following year and Whitestone Weavers in 2015,
Victoria originally started making carpets in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, in 1895 and moved its factory to Kidderminster in 1905.
