Major Black Country firm to lay off more than 50 staff
One of the Black Country’s biggest firms is set to lay off more than 50 staff after a series of major financial losses.
The Alan Nuttall Partnership in Hall Street, Dudley, which specialises in shop fittings and displays, said the move followed consecutive years of poor performance.
A letter to staff from HR manager Sue Judge says the company is proposing 52 redundancies ‘because of the sizeable losses incurred during the 2016 and 2017 financial years’.
In the year to December 2015 the firm had a healthy per-tax profit of £1.88m.
But Nuttall’s latest set of accounts to December 2016 show a pre-tax loss of £1.27m, with total company turnover down £8m.
Indecision
A statement to the firm’s directors said ‘indecision from key customers’ had led to ‘programmes being put on hold’.
It also highlighted that there was a risk of not getting paid due to the ‘liquidity of customers and suppliers’.
Over the period the firm’s highest paid director took home £249,000 including pension contributions, up £30,000 on the previous year.
Accounts for 2017 will not be published until May.
The letter to staff says: “Following previous correspondence, I am writing to confirm that The Alan Nuttall Partnership Limited is proposing to make a number of redundancies at Dudley.”
It continues: “It is proposing to make the redundancies at Dudley because of the sizeable losses incurred by The Alan Nuttall Partnership Limited during the 2016 and 2017 financial years.”
The firm, which was founded 52 years ago, employs more than 530 staff in production, sales and administration at sites in Dudley, Rugby and its headquarters in Hinckley, Leicestershire.
No comment
It has clients including M&S, Morrisons, Asda, Homebase, Costa, Nike, Sainsbury’s and Dunkin Donuts.
The redundancies will mainly impact the refrigeration section of the plant, which will see 39 job losses.
Staff will be given final confirmation of redundancies by the end of March.
In June 2016, Nuttall’s proposed 85 redundancies across all its sites due to retailers ‘holding back’ on investment and the collapse of BHS.
BHS went bust in April 2016, costing Nuttall’s £95,500.
Nuttall’s refused to comment when approached by the Express & Star.