BOC takes the axe to 250 jobs

ANOTHER 250 jobs are to go at international industrial gas giant BOC, most of them in the US, in addition to the 1,500 worldwide job losses announced last year. The redundancies follow the establishment of a joint venture in China, which will boost a cost-savings programme designed to save £105m by the end of this year.

The troubled BOC Edwards division again proved to be the problem, despite making an operating profit of £8m in the six months ending March. However, lack of orders from the hard-hit international semiconductor industry left turnover down by 36% to £317m for the half year.

The cost of restructuring was £23m with pre-tax profits of £173m , including £99.1m in the second quarter, a 15% setback.

A second interim dividend of 22.5p is to be paid, which, with the 15.5p first interim dividend, will give shareholders a 2.7% increase so far this year.