Household appliances manufacturer Electrolux (Stockholm / Schweden; www.electrolux.com) plans to consolidate its Italian refrigerator manufacturing operations at one site, in an attempt to become more competitive with producers in Asia and eastern Europe.

According to plans set to be realised in the second half of 2009, the company will close the plant at Scandicci, near Florence, with the loss of 450 jobs, and merge its capacity into the Susegana facility, located near Venice. Additional investment in efficiency improvement will lead to 300 job cuts in the 1,450-strong Susegana workforce. The consolidation scheme will cost an estimated SEK 600m (EUR 65m), with most of the charge (SEK 540m) to be booked against operating income in Q2 2008.