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Empresas y finanzas

Corus to announce up to 2,500 UK job cuts: report


    LONDON (Reuters) - Corus, Europe's second-largest steelmaker, is expected to announce plans to axe up to 2,500 jobs in the UK as early as Monday, the BBC reported.

    The company, which is owned by India's Tata Steel , is set to announce up to 3,500 job cuts in all, with the majority coming in the UK, the BBC said.

    The Sunday Times reported that the job cuts are part of a long-term restructuring drawn up by outgoing Chief Executive Philippe Varin, but have been accelerated by the crisis in the global steel industry.

    The BBC reported that Corus, which employs 42,000 workers worldwide including 24,000 in the UK, had asked for financial help from the government after steel prices fell by half.

    The number of Britons out of work and claiming benefits rose for an 11th consecutive month in December to just under 1.16 million, the highest in over 8 years.

    A number of high profile companies have announced job cuts this year and some experts have predicted the number of people out of work in the UK will hit 3 million by the year end.

    Corus was unavailable for comment.

    (Reporting by Matt Scuffham and Ben Deighton; Editing by Will Waterman, Phil Berlowitz)