LONDON (Reuters) - Administrators of steelmaker Caparo Industries said on Friday 452 employees are to be made redundant, in the latest blow to Britain's struggling steel industry.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said in a statement the redundancies would take immediate effect but that efforts were continuing to find buyers for other parts of the group which employ over 1,200 workers.
Administrators were appointed to 16 companies within the Caparo Industries Group, a Midlands and London headquartered diversified industrial group, on Oct. 19.
The UK steel's sector is under extreme pressure, with the biggest producer, Indian conglomerate Tata Steel, already having announced this month it was cutting 1,200 jobs. Another 1,700 were lost when Thailand's SSI mothballed its plant in Redcar, northern England in September.
Producing steel profitably in Britain is difficult due to cheap imports, particularly from China, a strong currency, lacklustre demand, plus energy costs and "green" taxes on heavy industry that are some of the highest in the world.
Matt Hammond, PwC partner and lead Administrator, said of Caparo: "It is with regret that we have made these decisions today, but the commercial prospects of the affected businesses render them unviable."
He added however: "We are encouraged by the interest expressed in many of the businesses and hope to make substantial progress on this during November."