Nissan to cease production of Infiniti cars in Sunderland
So, Nissan became the latest Japanese company to put the boot into British manufacturing as it announced that it will cease production of its Infiniti cars in Sunderland.
In the grand scheme of things we are talking about 200 jobs that are going to be affected in a factory that employs 7,000 workers, but the fact that it follows Honda’s recent announcement about Swindon and Jaguar Land Rover’s announcement that it is cutting 10% of its workforce, you would think that Nissan workers will be feeling very nervous at the moment.
Infiniti cars just haven’t been selling at all well in Europe and so Nissan said that it will concentrate on markets where it IS popular – America and China.
I don’t think that this is, in itself, a disaster for British manufacturing, but it will definitely worsen sentiment and give other wavering manufacturers an easy excuse to reduce or cut UK production.
Troubled clothing retailer French Connection
The second thing I wanted to talk about today was troubled clothing retailer French Connection.
Its 73 year old founder Stephen Marks is trying to offload his 42% stake in the company so the fact that it announced its first profit in seven years will certainly not damage his cause.
The company is a minor force on the high street compared to its 90s heyday where its infamous FCUK logo was everywhere and it has since been overtaken by the likes of Zara and H&M.
Although this is a bit of good news for the troubled company, it will take a very brave buyer to take it on in the current economic circumstances.
Still, I think that it still has some value and could do with a massive overhaul. Another one for Mike Ashley, perhaps??
