the Côte-d’Or sites are not affected

Vallourec, which specializes in seamless tubes, plans to cut 1,050 jobs worldwide, including 350 in France. The sites of Montbard and Venarey-les-Laumes should not be affected.

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More than a thousand positions deleted, including 350 in France. Industrial Vallourec, still heavily penalized by the pandemic and in debt, announced on Wednesday November 18 a new series of measures to strengthen its competitiveness.

Vallourec, a French specialist in seamless tubes and dependent on a hydrocarbon market which has contracted sharply since the start of the health crisis, had already announced in the first half of the year the elimination of 900 jobs in North America, i.e. a third staff in the area.

Now, it plans to cut 1,050 more jobs, out of nearly 19,000 employees around the world. For France, the restructuring plan provides for the elimination of 350 jobs. Vallourec’s three industrial sites in Côte-d’Or, in Montbard and Venarey-les-Laumes, should not be affected. “Les sites de Valinox, Vallourec Bearing Tubes, Vallourec Umbilicals […] are not affected “, indicates the company in an internal communication that we were able to consult.

Turnover down by a third

Vallourec, on the other hand, plans to close its factory in Déville-les-Rouen (Seine-Maritime), which has 190 jobs. It also provides for 160 fewer jobs elsewhere in France, without closing a site. “We cannot guarantee at this stage that there will be no forced departures at all, but we will do our best to limit them through age, reclassification and training measures”, indicated the resident of the management board, Edouard Guinotte, in an interview with the newspaper Les Echos.

In Germany, the group expects 200 fewer jobs and reductions in working time. Finally, in Brazil, 500 positions will be eliminated in support functions.

These measures follow a third quarter which saw the group’s turnover fall by a third to 716 million euros, while the net loss widened slightly to 69 million euros (compared to 60 million a year ago). Results “in line with our expectations”, commented the Chairman of the Management Board Edouard Guinotte, insisting on the “resistance capacity” from Vallourec.

In this context of activity severely penalized by the health crisis, which slowed down economies and reduced demand for hydrocarbons, Vallourec began negotiations this fall with its creditors to restructure its debt, which amounted to 3.5 billion. euros at the end of September. On Tuesday, the group said it was aiming to reduce its debt by just over 50% through a capital conversion, thus diluting current shareholders, as the company’s stock price plummeted. by 98% in ten years.

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MF with AFP