Mr Tony Pedder, chief executive of Corus, will today provide details of a survival plan by the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker that is thought likely to involve several thousand job cuts in the lossmaking UK plants.
Mr Pedder is expected to explain how the firm hopes to move ahead in light of the veto, upheld by an Amsterdam court yesterday, by Corus's Dutch supervisory board of the planned £543 million (€784 million) sale to Pechiney of France of an aluminium processing subsidiary.
Mr Leo Berndsen, chairman of the supervisory board, said he was anxious to maintain a "constructive" dialogue with Mr Pedder. But he warned he would continue to fight for the interests of the Dutch part of the company.
While Mr Berndsen distanced himself from suggestions that the Dutch part of the company wanted a "divorce" from the UK operation, he said he would push for this "as a last resort".
The company will today publish its 2002 results, which are expected to involve a loss of £400 million.Corus shares yesterday fell 2.1p to 4p, a decline of 72 per cent since Monday night, immediately prior to news of the board's hard line over the aluminium sale. - (Financial Times Service)
