US machine maker Terex is likely to push ahead with plans to cut staff hours and potentially implement scores of redundancies at its Northern Ireland operations - despite adding more than £20 million to its retained profits in 2023.
Newly-published financial figures confirm that the engineering group, which manufactures mobile crushing and screening machinery for the quarrying, mining, construction and recycling sectors, enjoyed a record-breaking last trading year.
Sales at Terex GB - which effectively relates to its business in the north - soared from £539 million to £687.4 million as the company enjoyed a post-Covid bounce in demand for its hardware.
Pre-tax profits in turn rose from £71.3m to £95.2m, and on a bottom line basis the company retained £80.5m - that’s up from £59.5m in 2022.
But in revealing plans in September to cut workers’ hours, Terex said that the extraordinary surge in demand its materials processing division had experienced post-Covid had stabilised.
The 2023 accounts show that Terex increased it staff numbers from 1,988 to 2,151, with recruitment coming in all three sections of its workforce (production, sales and administration) and across operations in Omagh, Dungannon, Derry, Cookstown and Ballymoney.
As a result, the company’s overall wages bill increased over the year from £78.4m to £91.3m.
But having already launched a redundancy process in July with around 150 people departing the company, most of them in Omagh and Dungannon, Terex confirmed in September that it is set to cut the working hours of hundreds more employees, with some jobs at risk of redundancy.
In a statement at the time Terex - which has had a presence in the Northern Ireland market since 1999, when it acquired Powerscreen and Finlay - said it continues to face reduced demand from key global markets.
It added: “In light of this, we unfortunately must take additional steps to safeguard jobs for the long term.”
Terex said the outcome will vary from site to site, but confirmed it may include a combination of reduced working hours, extended holiday periods, and, at its major locations, “the unfortunate necessity of further redundancies”. Some sites may also shut down for a longer period over the Christmas holidays.
“By making these changes now, we are better positioned to preserve more roles in the long term and to continue being a key employer in the region,” a company spokesperson said.
