Primark to cut hundreds of jobs in the UK

Primark to cut hundreds of jobs in the UK.

HUNDREDS of UK jobs are set to be cut at major bargain retailers Primark as the company looks to overhaul its retail management team.
Around 400 jobs are set to be axed across the fashion chain, which is owned by Associated British Foods, as it looks to restructure its management team so it is consistent across its estate of over 190 stores in the UK.
Kari Rodgers, Primark retail director for the UK, said: “The changes we’re proposing will deliver a simplified and more consistent management structure across all of our stores, provide more opportunities for career progression and offer greater flexibility, all of which are designed to help us provide the best possible experience for both our customers and our colleagues.
“We are now focused on supporting our colleagues who are affected by these proposed changes and will be going through the consultation process.”
Early last year, during one of the first waves of the pandemic, the retailer announced that they had a business model suitable to cope with the uncertainty of the global crisis and ruled out branching out into e-commerce.
AB Foods CFO John Bason told Bloomberg at the time: “The reason we don’t have home delivery is because we wouldn’t make money from it and no one else does either.
“Are we losing sales here during these store closures? Yes, that is not in dispute here,” Bason added. “But that does not mean that it pushes you to make uneconomic decisions about changing a winning business model,” he said.
However, today’s announcement is due to falling sales after the Omicron Covid variant kept shoppers away from stores.
In fact, Primark revealed it had seen a hit to recent trading with like-for-like sales in UK stores 10 per cent lower in the 16 weeks to January 8 when compared with pre-pandemic levels two years ago, according to the Evening Standard.
And although AB Foods said trading had improved in recent weeks, the company is still looking to cut costs with the restructure.

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