Wavin (Zwolle / The Netherlands; www.wavin.com) is to reduce its UK workforce by a further 165 employees. In November 2008 the company announced a reduction of 200 jobs, most of which were in the UK – see Plasteurope.com of 15.10.2008 – due to the downturn in the European construction markets. The company’s December trading update – see Plasteurope.com of 20.01.2009 – highlighted a 25% fall in operating profit and indicated that the company was looking for further annualised savings of EUR 15m.

The company said that its net debt had been reduced to around EUR 465 million at year-end 2008, compared with EUR 542m at the end of 2007. Weakening of non-euro currencies in the last weeks of 2008 further contributed to the debt reduction, it added.

Wavin confirmed 2008 revenue of EUR 1.6 bn, in line with the December trading statement, with an EBITDA margin of around 10% (3% below the level of 2007).