Mass redundancies at MH Scotland
One hundred jobs will be lost at Marine Harvest Scotland, it was revealed today, as the company implements its restructuring process.
The news came as the Marine Harvest Group announced its results for the final quarter of 2015 – a quarter in which “start-up costs at the Rosyth processing plant in Scotland have been higher than previously expected and have as such impacted results negatively by approximately NOK 70 million” (£5.55m).
MH Scotland’s harvest volumes were 14,000 tonnes, but – factoring in the Rosyth cost – these recorded an EBIT/kg of NOK -0.9 (£0.07).
The company employed 848 people in 2014, so the announcement will mean that roughly one in every 8.5 employees will lose their job. The news was given at a meeting with staff representatives, who were told the company was making changes to its operations in order to make the business more efficient and sustainable.
Ben Hadfield, Managing Director of Marine Harvest Scotland and global Feed Director, explained: “We will be sorry to see staff leaving as we have a highly skilled and talented team here at Marine Harvest Scotland. However, the industry is moving at a fast pace and fish farming is in a very different place today from where it was ten or even five years ago. We have to ensure the business is sustainable and is fit to meet the challenges we face moving forward. By taking this action now we can be more certain of maintaining jobs in the future.”
The company has issued a 30-day notice and will now enter a period of consultation with staff representatives about which posts will be affected.
The restructuring will affect jobs in different departments across all the regions and the company is contacting local agencies and politicians and will do everything it can to assist staff in gaining new employment.
The processing plant at Rosyth is not affected by this announcement, as it is part of the Marine Harvest Consumer Products division and not Marine Harvest Scotland.
Norwegian repercussions?
After the announcement of the dismissals, www.kyst.no asked if the company plans similar cost-cutting actions in Norway, but is clear that their Norwegian operations will not require such drastic restructuring.
“The changes now being made in Marine Harvest Scotland are solely based on the local situation. Neither Marine Harvest Norway or any other part of Marine Harvest is part of the restructuring in Scotland,” said Geir Holen, communications manager of MH Norway.
Ben Hadfield added: “We at Marine Harvest Scotland have now begun a process to restructure the company, downsizing is a result of this. We always look at how we can work more intelligently and effectively, and possibly other measures will be communicated when they are adopted.”
