Sheffield Forgemasters plans to cut 95 jobs amid pandemic

Sheffield Forgemasters produces a wide array of large-scale steel products through its casting and forging operations

Steel company Sheffield Forgemasters says it plans to axe 95 jobs as the Covid-19 pandemic hits global markets.

The 200-year-old company said cuts to the 708-strong workforce were an "unavoidable necessity" but it remained optimistic about its long-term future.

The job reductions were the result of reduced demand in the current economic climate, bosses said.

The firm said it hoped the losses could be reduced through voluntary redundancy or internal redeployment.

Under normal trading conditions, commercial contracts make up the majority of Sheffield Forgemasters' work, alongside core defence work for the UK and US defence industries.

The origins of Sheffield Forgemasters date back to the 1750s as a small blacksmith forge

Redundancies would affect staff across all levels of the business "in response to a rapid reduction in throughput of products for steel processing, offshore oil and gas and power generation sectors as customers across the world battle with the effects of the pandemic", the company said.

Chief executive David Bond said: "The decision to make redundancies has been extremely difficult for us, but staff cuts have become an unavoidable necessity in order to protect the majority of jobs at Sheffield Forgemasters."

Mr Bond said "many highly skilled positions" would be protected and the apprentice training programme would continue.

• Read more stories from across Yorkshire

He said the company was in the process of up-skilling 350 employees to "deliver a better trained, multi-skilled workforce operating across the site".

The firm had financial security through to 2022 via its defence commitments, Mr Bond added.

Sheffield Forgemasters recently posted its financial results for 2019 which showed a pre-tax profit of £0.8m, down from £2.0m in 2018 but with a reduction in debt from £20.3m to £8.8m.

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail] or send video here.