Vosper Thornycroft May Have To Lay Off 650

Vosper Thornycroft Holdings Plc said on Tuesday it may have to make up to 650 people redundant due to a shortage of short-term shipbuilding production work. Vosper said the redundancy notices would not take effect until early next year and would only come into force if the company was unable to secure additional work. "We are taking this action as a precautionary measure. No company can keep people employed indefinitely on maintenance and other temporary work without damaging its overall prospects," Chief Executive Martin Jay said in a statement. Vosper's current seven-ship contract for Royal Navy minehunters was now nearing an end, and was insufficient to provide work for the 1,200 workforce before the beginning of a new order, for Type 45 destroyers, announced three months ago. In July Vosper won part of a billion pound contract awarded to defense group BAE Systems, to build three new Type 45 warships.