Turkey’s Beko to cut jobs in Italy over underperformance

Beko

Beko, a Turkish white goods and electronic brand owned by manufacturer Arcelik, is to reduce its workforce in Italy by nearly half amid mounting industry challenges and financial underperformance.

The company will lay off 1,935 of 4,440 employees, Reuters reported, citing a statement issued by Italy’s industry ministry, the FIM, FIOM, UILM and UGLM trade unions.

Beko Europe attributed the layoffs to the Italian operation’s financial underperformance, increased competition from Asian players and weakened consumer demand.

Italian operations were financially unsustainable, with factory utilisation rates falling below 40 percent, the company said.

To address these challenges, Beko plans to invest €110 million ($116 million) in restructuring its Italian operations to establish a sustainable long-term footprint.

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However, the Italian ministry rejected the proposal, adding the government would take all necessary measures to protect jobs.  

Beko took control of the Italian operations as part of its acquisition of Whirlpool’s European domestic appliances business, which was approved by EU antitrust regulators last year.

In August Beko BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Beko, completed its first €350 million global syndicated loan facility.

The three-year syndicated term loan facility was led by Emirates NBD Capital, the investment banking arm of Dubai-based Emirates NBD.