Cosmetics firm cutting 200 jobs

Jobs at the plant were saved in a buyout last November

A cosmetics company is cutting its workforce by more than 200 because of a sales slump in the economic downturn.

Budelpack COSi at Maesteg, near Bridgend, said sales had fallen by a quarter in recent months and called its plan a "restructuring".

The Dutch-owned firm said it had cut back 150 agency staff over the past two months and it would be laying off 81 full-time staff in the coming weeks.

The site, previously owned by cosmetic giants Revlon, has 411 full-time staff.

Nearly 600 jobs at the plant were saved in the buyout by the Dutch company last November.

Interim site director Steve Williams said: "It is very unfortunate that we have to restructure but in this current economic climate these changes are unavoidable."

On Tuesday it emerged that the car manufacturer Ford at nearby Bridgend is also planning to lay off some of its staff temporarily.

Ford announced it was making a £70m investment in the plant to produce a new generation of low CO2 petrol engines.

That move is being backed by a Welsh Assembly Government grant of more than £13m.

It was hailed as a move that would secure the future of the 28-year-old plant which employs more than 2,000.

But it has emerged 800 car workers now face temporary lay-offs over the Christmas and New Year period.

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