The decision follows the announcement of an unsatisfactory operating result last month

The decision follows the announcement of an unsatisfactory operating result last month

BASF has announced redundancies at its north-east UK site, following a difficult third quarter. The group is due to lay off workers at Seal Sands, which makes intermediates for performance polymers, after its parent company announced an unsatisfactory operating result last month.

Executive chairman Dr Jьrgen Hambrecht said the firm had experienced a difficult year and had still not seen a breakthrough. Seal Sands public affairs manager Ian Mains told PRW.com the company was making 35 redundancies at the site to reflect this downturn. “Although the plant is operating at full capacity, what we’re trying to do is in line with what BASF AG is doing.”

Mains said the site was not targeting specific areas of the business. “We’re making the redundancies across the plant – we’re trying to make things as reasonable and as fair as possible. Rather than reducing the ‘coal face workers’ we’ve been looking across every side.” He hoped employees would opt for voluntary redundancy packages. “Our workforce is quite an old workforce, with an average age of 49.”