Finland-based meat group HKScan plans to cut up to 295 jobs as part of efforts to streamline its subsidiaries in its home country under a cost savings programme announced last week.
The company last week revealed its HK Ruokatalo Oy division had become a wholly owned subsidiary of HKScan Corp. The move followed a merger between HKScan Finland Oy and Ruokatalo Oy, and in turn followed the integration of Järvi-Suomen Portti Oy and Helanderin Teurastamo Oy into the Ruokatalo business.
The firm is hoping to improve profit by around EUR5m annually through the move, which is expected to be carried out mainly by the end of this year.
In a statement today (7 January), HKScan said it will begin labour negotiations from 14 January, which it said may to last up to eight weeks. Of the 295 redundancies, the impact is expected to be felt with blue-collar employees, administrative staff or senior administrative staff of HKScan Corp, HK Ruokatalo Oy and its procurement company HK Agri Oy.
"The negotiations aim to keep the amount of terminations of employment to under half of what is estimated through changes in job descriptions or other milder solutions regarding the personnel," the company said. "The possible impact on personnel will be further specified as the negotiations unfold."
HKScan currently employs around 2,400 staff in Finland.
The company has been under pressure to improve profitability for some time. In April last year, it announced a two-year streamlining programme designed to achieve efficiency savings of EUR20m (US$26.5m) annually.
In August, the firm unveiled streamlining plans in Sweden.
