All 250 employees at a beauty products business in Nenagh are to lose their jobs when the Coty multinational company closes its plant in the town.
And the future of a further 200 jobs in Drogheda hangs in the balance as Coca-Cola is expected to announce plans to centralise certain operations across Europe.*
In Nenagh, staff at the former Procter & Gamble site have been called to a meeting at midday today, with the management shutting down production for the day.
The company, which started operating on the site only last October after completing a $12.9 billion deal with Procter & Gamble, is expected to announce a phased closure of the plant over the next 12-18 months.
Coty, which makes cosmetics, fragrances, and hair and skincare products, is transferring the operations to another plant in Ashford, Kent.
Max Factor
The Nenagh plant, which manufactures Max Factor products, had been in competition with Ashford for the business. Union leaders had hoped that, with Brexit looming, the Tipperary facility would have an advantage.
Coty is the company behind cosmetic brands such as Rimmel, Max Factor, Cover Girl, Calvin Klein, and Mark Jacobs, as well as Clairol and Wella products. Founded in Paris in the early 20th century, it is now headquartered in New York.
Coty assumed control at Procter & Gamble’s speciality beauty business in October 2016, a year after the deal was first announced as part of efforts by the consumer goods group to streamline its huge portfolio of brands and improve its financial performance.
Staff in the Nenagh plant will receive redundancy payments under the terms previously available from Procter & Gamble, amounting to six weeks’ pay per year of service, plus two weeks’ statutory redundancy.
Procter & Gamble had a plant in Nenagh from the early 1980s, employing about 650 people at one time.
Savings
Speaking at the publication of Coty’s second-quarter financial results in February, chief executive Camillo Pane said the company still expected to make savings of $750 million by 2020 as a result of merging the Procter & Gamble business.
“The integration is progressing as expected, with no major issues to date. It’s fair to say this is a significant undertaking as we are both integrating and simultaneously reorganising the entire company to create the organisation we need to deliver our mission,” he said.
Meanwhile, workers at Coca-Cola are awaiting news, due tomorrow, of a reorganisation that could affect of jobs in Ireland.*
* this article was edited on March 14th to clarify which Coca Cola company is facing reorganisation
