THE number of jobs threatened at Symmetry Medical's Penistone Road plant in Sheffield has more than trebled after new management uncovered the extent of losses at the firm.
Up to 70 of the 430 jobs at the Owlerton plant may now go, according to Symmetry Medical's chief operating officer for Europe, John Hynes.
Mr Hynes, who joined the firm at the end of last year, after previous chiefs were removed, had hoped to lim
it job losses to around 20.
But, despite the need to increase the cuts, he still believes the plant, which is also the company's European headquarters, has a future and says there are plans for further investment. Mr Hynes said: "The long term future of Sheffield isn't in question, if we can get these things sorted out. It is our view that we will get the company to break even by the end of the year."
Mr Hynes was recruited after Symmetry's US parent group discovered what it said were financial irregularities which could have meant the Sheffield business's income for the preceding eight years was up to $16 million less than had previously been stated.
He has declined to blame those problems for the need to cut jobs but says improved financial systems have revealed a truer and more detailed picture of the state of the business than might have been available to previous management.
Mr Hynes said: "Because of the way things were reported, it wasn't clear that Sheffield had a significant problem. The difference now is that we have got a very clear view of the underlying performance of this facility in relation to the rest of the group."
Mr Hynes says the full extent of the Sheffield business's financial losses only became clear in recent weeks, after the original redundancy announcement.
He believes that if jobs are shed now and the company achieves increased efficiency, there is no reason why the plant cannot reach satisfactory performance levels.
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