Beneteau announces 660 staff reduction

Bénéteau announces 60 redundancies and 600 voluntary departures

By IBI Magazine

French boatbuilder the Bénéteau Group has presented its adaptation plan to the Central Works Council, proposing 60 redundancies and 600 voluntary departures.

The number of redundancies has been limited to 60 compared to the 590 originally forecast. A total of 625 positions has been saved by short-term adaptation plans.

In April Bénéteau estimated that it was overstaffed by 1,590 positions, with difficult market conditions causing a loss of 2.7m production hours.

Measures that have allowed the group to preserve a higher number of overstaffed positions than initially expected include flexible working and the addition of a residential development.

A reorganisation of the company's executive management team has also been proposed as part of the package of measures. Under the proposal, the position of chief financial officer, held by Bruno Poloniato, will be performed as previously by chairman of the management board Bruno Cathelinais.

A further meeting with the Central Works Council will be held on June 23 before all adaptation measures are implemented.

Bénéteau reported a net loss of €20.3m for the first half of 2008/2009. At the end of the financial year 2007-2008, the group's turnover totalled €1.055bn and it employed 6,000 people at 20 production sites.

(11 June 2009)