McBride will slash UK jobs to cut costs

LONDON (Reuters) - Household and personal product maker McBride will "significantly" reduce its UK headcount when it moves production to a new facility in the north-west of England later this year, its Chief Executive said.

"We're moving most of our UK production to a new facility in St Helens, which will give us the opportunity to significantly reduce our UK headcount, which currently stands at about 2,200," Chief Executive Miles Roberts told Reuters on Thursday.

The group, which supplies Tesco and Sainsbury with private label goods, has been hit hard by the rising cost of raw materials and aims to cut costs further in 2008/2009.