Belling cooker maker to cut up to 300 jobs

THE company behind Belling cookers is shedding almost a third of its workforce making the domestic appliances as it struggles under the strain of changing consumer tastes and a tough trading environment.

Merseyside-based Glen Dimplex Home Appliances (GDHA) announced it is streamlining operations, resulting in up to 300 of its 1,000 permanent staff being made redundant.

Privately-owned GDHA – which makes cookers and fridges under the Stoves, New World, Lec and Britannia brands – will also stop operating in some market segments and outsource parts of its manufacturing process.

The company, which also has a UK distribution base in Stoke-on-trent, said the cuts were “necessary to ensure a viable GDHA business in the future”.

Andy Griffiths, chief executive, added: “It is with a heavy heart that we are announcing this significant change to our business.

“We are incredibly proud of our people and our long-standing history of manufacturing at this site, and we know how tough this news will be on our colleagues. Sadly, these proposals are necessary.”

GDHA said its financial performance has been affected by consolidation among major UK retailers, as well as rival manufacturers. This has made it hard for it to compete on price as it comes up against larger businesses benefiting from economies of scale.

The redundancies are subject to consultation with staff and unions and are likely to begin in August. GDHA’S home appliance business has been making cookers under the New World brand since the late 1800s, Belling since 1912 and Stoves since 1920.

It is part of the larger Glen Dimplex international group, the world’s largest manufacturer of electrical heating products, but which also operates in the cooling, ventilation, and renewable energy sectors.

The company was established in 1973 as Glen Electric by Martin Naughton – who is now chairman of the supervisory board – in Newry, Northern Ireland, with four colleagues as a manufacturer of oil-filled radiators.

Four years later it acquired the much larger Dimplex business, moving it into new areas of electric heating, and has steadily expanded since.