Mining machinery dealer WesTrac has announced a further 650 jobs will be shed, following 375 redundancies announced in late-June, citing a reduced demand from the resources sector.
WesTrac, one of the biggest authorised Caterpillar distributors in the world, is a division of diversified investment business Seven Group Holdings, which also owns the Seven network.
“WesTrac has implemented a series of efficiency and productivity initiatives over the past twelve months in an effort to streamline its cost base, but these measures alone have not been sufficient in view of continuing challenging market conditions,” Seven Group said in a statement, reported by AAP and others.
The cuts will be achieved, Seven said, “through a combination of natural attrition, reduction in contractors and redundancies.”
The layoffs were estimated to cost $13 million, and come after WesTrac announced that it would shed roughly a tenth of its workforce at the time – which operates in WA, ACT and NSW – on June 28.
Seven’s statement said that full-year earnings before interest and tax would be towards the lower end of earnings guidance given in August, which predicted a drop of between 30 and 40 per cent compared to the previous year.
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