Makro begins redundancy round

THE new restructuring chief brought in to run Irlam-based Makro Group has already begun to wield the axe.

TheBusinessDesk.com understands that more than 70 members of staff at its Irlam base were told that they were going to be made redundant on Friday.

Makro, which is owned by German wholesale giant Metro Group, recently appointed restructuring expert Juergen Schwarze as its new managing director last month following a decision to oust four former managing directors, including ex-MD Hannes Floto.

At the time, the company said that it had taken the decision “to accelerate its restructuring and turnaround efforts”. Four professionals from consultancy firm Alix Partners were also appointed to oversee  the restructuring.

The company declined to comment on the latest cuts.

The last publicly-available figures for the 5,000-strong British business show that it declared a loss of £44.7m on sales of £867.9m in 2009.