More job losses

[Paul]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3665661.stm

Originally Posted by BBC

Dixons to close down 106 stores


Dixons is to close 106 under-performing stores over the next three months as sales continued to disappoint.
The sites represent 2% of the group's trading space, and Dixons said the move is expected to cost £48m.

Dixons announced the move in a trading update, which said it expected to meet its full-year profit forecasts, adding that sales performance was in-line.

Analysts have forecast the group will post a profit of between £320m and £330m for the year.

Anyone else want to put people out of work this year?

[sir_drinks_alot]

Originally Posted by Paul

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3665661.stm

Anyone else want to put people out of work this year?

give it time we are only in april

[Paul]

Originally Posted by sir_drinks_alot

give it time we are only in april

That's the worrying part, only in April yet there are all ready job losses announced for people working for
NTL
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3607399.stm
Shell
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3665193.stm
and now Dixons. Those are only 3 that I have seen over the last 3 weeks
On the plus side though there is a prison opening around the corner if anyone wants a job

Cutting jobs because they are superflous or to cut costs i dont have an issue with. Thats just a fact of life, things change and so should businesses. However exporting jobs to other countries is a disgrace as far as im concerned. Yes it cuts costs because these companies are taking advantage of emerging third world countries. BUT WHO BUYS YOUR PRODUCTS!!! one thing is for sure, people in places like india dont!!

[Chris]

Exporting jobs to India is a little off topic in this case. Dixons is closing retail stores in the UK because the chain is under-performing, not because they are outsourcing any work overseas. There would be little point in opening a branch in Bangalore in the hope of selling more TVs to the people of Stepney.

The problems of NTL, Shell and Dixons are all quite separate. UK plc is actually in good health at the moment and it would be wrong to present these three cases collectively as proof that 2004 will be a bad year for redundancies. What has happened to these three, in summary, is:

Ntl: As we all know, our favourite cableco cripped itself with debt and avoided bankruptcy by making its debtors its new shareholders. Now the banks and other money lenders want some value out of their unwitting investment and ntl is cutting back very hard on costs to try to improve profit.

Shell: In serious trouble after over-estimating its volume of oil reserves, and on discovering the problem spending months trying to cover it up. Having finally come clean, it is having to cut costs to remedy the fact that the true value of the business can now be seen to be far less rosy than was believed.

Dixons: 106 of its smaller stores are closing despite group profit being up 14% on last year and on target for this year's business plan. The stores are all within 5 miles of another, bigger store, have each underperformed and do not fit the company's development plan for the Dixons brand. The message here, sadly for those who will lose their jobs, seems to be 'good, but not good enough.' On a happier note, the company hopes to find 'most' of the staff jobs in other stores. So of these three, Dixons staff appear to be getting off the lightest.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by towny

<snip>

Ntl: As we all know, our favourite cableco cripped itself with debt and avoided bankruptcy by making its debtors its new shareholders. Now the banks and other money lenders want some value out of their unwitting investment and ntl is cutting back very hard on costs to try to improve profit.

<snip>

Improve profit??? Making a profit would be a start...

ntl's losses are getting smaller every quarter, which is nothing but a good thing.... I don't like the all the job losses that arise because of moving operations to india, but the only alternative for a lot of these companies rather than cutting costs on the operational side, is to raise prices of the goods and services they sell.

I know what I'd rather....

[abailey152]

To be honest, I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner, with both Currys and Dixons owned by the same company (as well as PCWorld). It's strange to have two "competing" stores, selling the same stuff, but with the same owner.

[zovat]

Originally Posted by Paul

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3665661.stm

Anyone else want to put people out of work this year?

Sun Microsystems are also shedding jobs - uknown how many in uk yet - but 3,300 worldwide... (yes, thats who I work for)

[Simon M]

I know this has been mentioned already ... but

I'm incensed as are many others about the store closures ...

News Stories

http://images.dixons.com/corporate_n.../final_RNS.pdf

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0300b...name_page.html

http://www.whatpc.co.uk/News/1152136

http://www.theretailbulletin.com/ind...t=tech&id=3847

The stores that are closing are ...

Aberystwyth
Bangor
Bangor NI
Banbury
Balham
Barnsley
Basingstoke
Beeston
Berwick
Bexleyheath
Blackburn
Bootle
Boston
Bradford
Braehead
Burton
Charing cross
Chesterfield
Chichester
Chiswick
Crewe
Cwmbran
Dunfermline
Durham
Edinburgh
Edinburgh, Cameron Toll
Edinburgh, Gyle
Eltham
Enfield
Epsom
Falkirk
Falmouth
Fareham
Farnborough
Fort Dunlop
Fulham
Watford
Wood Green

I'll add more as I get them.

Most stores seem to be closing on 19th June.

[Simon M]

More added

Galsgow Forge
Glasgow Sauchiehall
Halifax
Hastings
Hereford
Horsham
Kilburn
Kings Lynn
Kirkcaldy
Lancaster
Leamington Spa
Lowestoft
Livingston
Llandudno
Llanelli
Wigan
Wilmslow
Windsor
Wrexham
York