Greggs has announced plans to cut 820 jobs amid the pandemic after the boss has warned how ‘Covid trading conditions have forced this action onto the business’.
Chief Executive Roger Whiteside warned that the bakery chain ‘will not be profitable as a business’ if sales continue at the rates they have been during lockdown.
The Newcastle-based chain said at the end of September it was in talks with staff to cut hours to try and minimise job losses when the furlough scheme was expected to end in October.
Greggs has announced plans to cut more than 800 jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic (stock image)
In a statement posted on the Greggs employee information website earlier this week, chief executive Roger Whiteside said: ‘Covid trading conditions have forced this action onto our business and we are all very saddened by the need to part company with around 820 friends and colleagues, many of whom have worked with us for many years.’
He went on to say that ‘the battle with Covid hasn’t gone away and is intensifying further’ as lockdown measures continue to be in place across the four nations of the UK.
Mr Whiteside added: ‘At lockdown levels of sales, even after all of the mitigating action that we have taken, Greggs will not be profitable as a business and there can be no room for complacency.’
Chief Executive Roger Whiteside (pictured in 2016) warned that the bakery chain ‘will not be profitable as a business’ if sales continue at the rates they have been in lockdown
He told reporters at the time: ‘Some stores have staff hours which are just off what’s needed for current demand. But others are a long way off and will need significant change.’
The popular British bakery chain, famous for its sausage rolls and vegetable pasties, was founded as a Tyneside bakery in 1939, and has over 2,000 branches.
It comes after high street retailer WH Smith has fallen into a £226 million loss in the past 12 months amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Newcastle-based chain said at the end of September it was in talks with staff to cut hours to try and minimise job losses when the furlough scheme was expected to end in October. Pictured: Greggs in Slough, Berkshire
Their pre-tax loss is comes after forecasters previously described 2020 as a ‘write-off’ year for WH Smith.
The stationery retailer previously announced up to 1,500 jobs could be axed amid warnings from Analysts at Investec who previously said they expected it to deliver a £73 million loss.
Around 300 of its 1,600 stores were kept open after the first lockdown – primarily those in hospitals and with post offices attached – but the chain is expected to be better sheltered this time around after newsagents were given the green light to stay open.
WH Smith said it had lost £226 million before tax in the 12 months to August, a swing from a £135 million profit a year earlier. Pictured, a store in London in August
But in August the 228-year-old business said the dramatic fall in sales could force them to axe around 11 per cent of its workforce.
It was a grim announcement for an already hammered high street after hundreds of jobs were also cut at high street fashion chain M&Co.
The chain also announced the closure of 47 stores, taking the number of workers facing redundancy as a result of the Covid crisis above 100,000.
Within one week over the summer 651 roles were lost at Byron, 1,700 put at risk at DW Sports, 878 lost at Hays Travel and 1,100 put at risk at Pizza Express.
And when England went into lockdown once again this month, more job losses were announced as stores were forced to close once again.
The second lockdown, which requires all ‘non-essential’ retailers to close, also fell in the run up to Christmas when many firms make most of their annual profit.
John Lewis cut a further 1,500 jobs, adding to the 1,300 axed when it permanently shut eight stores in July. Pictured John Lewis in Westfield, Stratford, London, closed ahead of he four-week national lockdown
It was the latest blow in the bloodbath consuming retail in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.
As a result, John Lewis cut a further 1,500 jobs, adding to the 1,300 axed when it permanently shut eight stores in July.
The retail giant was widely seen as a benchmark for High Street performance in the UK.
Lloyds Bank also announced their decision to make 1,070 more staff redundant on top of the 865 earlier in the pandemic.
Within the same 24 hours Marks & Spencer also reported its first loss in its 94 years as a listed company. The company had already cut 8,000 staff since March.
Shops and restaurants under pressure following the coronavirus pandemic have had to close, with boarded up shops not an uncommon sight on the High Street. Pictured: London’s usually busy Old Compton Street
And Sainsbury’s also confirmed it would cut around 3,500 jobs across its Argos stores and supermarket meat, fish and deli counters, while Clarks shoes put the jobs of all 4,000 of its store staff on notice as part of its fight for survival.
The rescue package that was drawn up to aid the High Street giant saw the Clark family lose majority ownership of the company for the first time since it was founded nearly 200 years ago.
More than a million jobs are expected to be lost before Christmas, even before the latest lockdown was announced, taking unemployment past 2.5 million.
Sainsbury’s announced it was cutting 3,500 jobs last week, as John Lewis, Clarks and Lloyds Bank all declared potential job losses
And analysis by the Local Data Company and Springboard suggests covid could leave up to 18,000 UK High Street shops empty as vacancies rise to the highest level since 2013.
With England living under a second lockdown until December 2, ministers have been warned the retail industry faces losing £8billion as it loses out on vital Christmas sales.
Non-essential shops have been forced to close, with some supermarkets including Tesco, cordoning off parts of their stores that contain non-essential items.
Since last Thursday, clothing and electronic stores, among others, have been forced to close.
Food shops, supermarkets and garden centres have been able to stay open.
Major firms have announced nearly 219,000 job losses since lockdown began in March, the Government has extended its furlough scheme to March, as it predicts a ‘difficult,’ winter
Tom Ironside, director of policy at the British Retail Consortium, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘[The Government] have decided that some sorts of retailers, supermarkets and pharmacies will be able to trade, and that’s right, but we think some of the restrictions are really quite arbitrary.
‘The timing of this lockdown is clearly extremely difficult for the retail industry. This is the golden quarter for many retailers, and to lose a month of sales during this period is extremely difficult.
‘We estimate that for those classified as non-essential retail forced to close, they’ll be losing £2billion pounds a week during this new lockdown.’
Last week Rishi Sunak announced the Government’s furlough scheme was being extended through to March, as he warned businesses face a ‘difficult,’ winter.