Liberty Steel to cut 200 jobs in South Yorkshire and West Midlands
Liberty Steel has announced plans to cut 200 jobs in the UK at plants in South Yorkshire and the West Midlands, in the latest sign of the struggles facing the industrialist Sanjeev Gupta’s metals group.
The company said on Friday that it would cut 160 jobs at a plant in Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire, and 45 in West Bromwich in the West Midlands as it focused production on another plant in Rotherham, also in South Yorkshire.
The two affected plants make specialised alloys for customers in aerospace and energy.
Liberty Steel and other parts of Gupta’s GFG Alliance metals businesses have been under financial pressure for a year since the collapse in March 2021 of their main backer, Greensill Capital. GFG says it employ 35,000 people worldwide in its group of mines, steel and aluminium plants, and an energy company.
Liberty Steel’s UK operations have also been threatened directly. In February HM Revenue and Customs filed winding up petitions against four companies employing 3,000 workers, including those operating the Stocksbridge and West Bromwich sites, over unpaid tax. HMRC withdrew the petitions last month after negotiations.
GFG has tried to restructure its complex web of UK operations and find new financiers to invest, although it has not so far announced any significant external backers.
It is also facing an investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, and the French government has evidence that GFG companies have “misappropriated” funds from a steel plant in Romania, according to court documents in a case involving one of the metal magnate’s companies.
Gupta is listed as a director on 77 active UK companies. Accounts for 29 of those are overdue, nine of them by more than a year. Not filing an annual report is a criminal
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