Jobs at risk at multi-national car parts firm in Cannock
Up to 25 jobs are at risk at a multi-national car parts firm's base in Cannock, it has been revealed.
Gestamp Tallent in Wolverhampton Road is shedding the posts as part of a 'restructure'.
The company is the biggest employer in the town and civic leaders have raised concerns at the announcement.
But bosses have insisted they hope to reduce the number of job losses and say they are currently consulting with the firm's 1,000 workers.
The jobs at risk are believed to include shift managers and team leaders.
In a statement, the firm said: "We can confirm that as part of a business improvement activity we have announced proposed restructuring this week at our Cannock plant, that could lead to a maximum of 25 redundancies.
"During consultation we will be working very hard to find alternatives which remove the need for any employees to leave our business.
"Unfortunately this activity is necessary to place the company in a position to continue its growth in 2015."
The company supplies parts to car manufacturers including Bentley, BMW, Ford and Porsche.
Just last month it reported a 2.1 per cent rise in turnover.
The firm posted sales of £419.3m for the year ended December 2013, a small increase on the previous year's £410.5m, while pre-tax profits were largely in line with 2012 at £20.6m compared to £24.8m.
The overall profit for the year was £16.4m, down from £19.6m, which was affected by investments in research and development of £8.08m compared to last year's £5.34m spend.
Cannock Council leader George Adamson said: "This is Cannock's biggest company - thankfully it is only 25 and not a much larger number, but something like this happening just before Christmas is not good news.
"The Government keep telling us that the economy is improving but maybe this is evidence that things aren't as good as they seem.
"If you are one of those 25 people then it is not good at all."
In a recent statement with the latest financial figures, bosses said: "The company will continue to invest in production and strategic assets in the coming years recognising both the need for new manufacturing lines but also the need to replace and complement existing strategic assets."
