Dyson is cutting up to 1,000 jobs in the UK as part of a cost-cutting drive, it has been reported.
The move by the vacuum cleaner and air filter maker, which relocated its headquarters to Singapore in 2019, will see its UK-based workforce reduced by more than a quarter.
The company, founded by Sir James Dyson in 1991, has 3,500 UK employees based in offices in Wiltshire, Bristol and London.
Staff were told of the news on Tuesday morning.
In a statement, Dyson chief executive Hanno Kirner said the job losses were a result of the company reviewing its global structures and preparing for the future.
He said: “We have grown quickly and, like all companies, we review our global structures from time to time to ensure we are prepared for the future.
“As such, we are proposing changes to our organisation, which may result in redundancies.”
He added: “Decisions which impact close and talented colleagues are always incredibly painful. Those whose roles are at risk of redundancy as a result of the proposals will be supported through the process.”
Sir James attracted criticism for his decision to move Dyson’s head office from Wiltshire to Singapore in 2019, with some accusing him of hypocrisy for switching the British company’s base to Asia while being a prominent supporter of Brexit.
He said that the move had nothing to do with the UK’s decision to leave the EU and made commercial sense because many of Dyson’s future customers would be in Asia.
The company’s last submitted accounts for 2022, filed in October last year, show its pre-tax annual profit fell slightly to £9.6m from £10.2m the year before, due to a fall in number of goods sold.
Sir James, who ranked fifth in The Sunday Times Rich list with a fortune of £2.2bn, has not been afraid to speak out on political issues.
In December, the inventor accused Rishi Sunak and former chancellor Jeremy Hunt of failing on growth in the economy, while praising predecessors Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng for “doing the right thing”.
His comments came after revised figures showed the UK economy was performing worse than previously thought, despite a fall in inflation.
Sir James said: “Wealth generation and growth became dirty words. I’ve always believed that inflation isn’t quite the enemy everyone thinks it is. If you’ve got growth, a bit of inflation doesn’t matter. If you get inflation down and kill growth, I think you’re in trouble.”
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