Alstom to shed up to 400 UK jobs

ALSTOM, THE Anglo-French engineering, transport and energy giant, warned yesterday that it planned to axe 300-400 jobs in the UK over the next six months. The job cuts will fall mainly at its Metro-Cammell rail division in Birmingham, which has won a pounds 1bn order for high-speed tilting trains for the Virgin West Coast Mainline route.

Pierre Bilger, Alstom's chairman, said it expected to shed a total of 12,500 jobs over the next 18 months, at a cost of pounds 316m, to cope with the likely decrease in orders caused by the world economic downturn. Alstom's maiden results following flotation in June showed an 8 per cent rise in operating profits to pounds 204m in the six months ended September.