The vacuum cleaner and air filter maker Dyson is cutting about 1,000 jobs in the UK, reducing its British workforce by more than a quarter.
Staff were told on Tuesday morning about the cuts as part of a wider cost-cutting drive and efforts to reduce the business’s 15,000-strong workforce around the world.
Dyson has 3,500 UK employees, with offices in Wiltshire, Bristol and London.
The job cuts come on the day that the new business and trade secretary, John Reynolds, hosted a call with 170 leaders from businesses and trade associations to set out his priorities and answer questions.
Dyson’s biggest market is Asia, where it competes against local rivals that often produce similar products shortly after its own appliances are launched.
Hanno Kirner, the Dyson chief executive, said: “Dyson operates in increasingly fierce and competitive global markets, in which the pace of innovation and change is only accelerating. We know we always need to be entrepreneurial and agile.”
“We have grown quickly and, like all companies, we review our global structures from time to time to ensure we are prepared for the future,” he added, saying cutting jobs was “always incredibly painful”.
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The company’s pro-Brexit founder, Sir James Dyson, moved the group’s corporate headquarters to Singapore in 2019, pointing to the growing importance of supply chains and customers in Asia.