Any GKN - More brit manufacturing sold - Orb>>.
www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/29/us-rival-...s
No talk yet of job cuts then
Sadly you are living in the past. The Guardian today also had a commentary by Nils Prately.
Dowlais/GKN Automotive’s importance to the UK economy is not what it was, to put it mildly, which is why the deal caused no embarrassment to the chancellor on the day of her big growth speech. The UK operational base shrank with the rest of the automotive industry over the generations; the last UK plant, at Erdington in Birmingham, was closed on Melrose’s watch in 2021. Annual global revenue is £5bn, but this UK-headquartered company has just 37 UK-based staff.
Maybe bought for their client base. Sadly I saw that happen a LOT in my old industry of Building Services Engineering consultants, the big boys buying out well-established and highly regarded UK SMEs, who themselves sell-out (or rather their Directors do, in return for lots of ££££ to themselves) to big foreign (sole-less) conglomerates, both of whom gut the bought-out firm, to the detriment of staff, service quality and eventually reputation.
One firm in particular (I won't mention them by name) which was a leading industry name had a great reputation (and was always nicely profitable) that this happened to, with many long-established offices in the UK and (later) worldwide.
Now only one big office in London, name changed, poor reputation in comparison, drastically less staff and almost no staff perks to speak of. People used to stay there nearly all the career, it was so good. These days, you're doing very well if you reach 5 years. Most don't get anywhere near that.
Too many British firms have been run into the ground via bad (and selfish, greedy) management over the last century. Not long until (in every respect) we'll be a third-world nation. All those responsible will either be living it up abroad or long gone six feet under.
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