East African Portland Cement (EAPCC) is set to retrench more than two thirds of its staff in a restructuring plan

 

Cement manufacturer East African Portland Cement  is set to retrench more than two thirds of its staff in a restructuring plan which will cost the State-owned company about Sh2 billion.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm, which was has been ruled technically insolvent by the auditor general, says it will plans to lay off over 1,000 employees, reducing its staff count to 500.

The loss-making company has offered the government 2,000 acres of its idle land for Sh10 billion to be used to turnaround its fortunes including paying for the voluntary retirement programme.

“We are overly overstaffed with our employee numbers at over 1,500 and close to 2,000. By benchmarking with the rest of the industry we need only 500,” said Bill Lay, Portland’s chairman.

Mr Lay said staff reduction was a major priority as it was an investment with a shorter payback period with payroll savings expected to recoup the cost in two years.