Exclusive: Currys cuts head office jobs amid rising staff costs
Currys is planning to cut around 80 head office roles as it looks to trim costs across the business.
Currys is planning to cut around 80 head office roles as it looks to trim costs across the business.
The electricals giant has entered a consultation period with impacted staff across all head office functions, Retail Gazette has learnt.
The redundancies come as the retailer is looking to reduce its central cost base by 10% this year as it faces a £30m increase to its tax bill following changes to employers’ National Insurance contributions and National Minimum Wage. It employs around 15,000 people across the UK.
It is understood that retail staff are not impacted its cost savings plan.
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A Currys spokesperson told Retail Gazette: “Currys is winning in a challenging market, and our performance continues to strengthen. But in an environment where we have new Government headwinds of over £30m this year, we need to work hard to continue to maintain this success.
“As a result, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our central costs in the UK by 10% this financial year, and while we’re committed to protecting our investments in stores and online which are increasing customer satisfaction, this will affect a number of non-customer facing roles in the business. We are working to support those colleagues affected.”
The job cuts come as Currys upgraded its profit outlook this week to be around £162m for the year to 3 May, beating its previous forecast of £160m and original guidance of between £145m and £155m.
The anticipated 37% surge in the retail giant’s profit comes as group sales edged up 2%, with a 4% increase in UK and Ireland revenue helping to offset a flat performance in its Nordics business.
It reported that its UK and Ireland adjusted EBIT will be in line with consensus with sales growth and gross margin improvements “more than” offsetting cost increases.
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