GLOUCESTERSHIRE’S largest private employer today confirmed that over 300 jobs have been cut at its factories around the county in what its chairman has referred to as a "horrific" time for the business.

Renishaw plc, an international manufacturing company based in Wotton-under-Edge, confirmed a final redundancy figure of 440 staff worldwide, of which 308 are from their factories in Wotton, Stonehouse and Woodchester.

A further 12 jobs are also still ‘at risk’ in the county if alternative job offers are not accepted and the figure of 308 includes 39 voluntary redundancies.

Chairman and chief executive of Renishaw Sir David McMurtry described the redundancy process as a "horrendous" time for the company and for him personally.

He said this was the worst recession the firm had been through in its 36 years of trading, both in speed and severity.

"We were alarmed that Renishaw got into such difficulty so quickly, it was a shock to a lot of people," Mr McMurtry said at a meeting held at the New Mill headquarters in Wotton this morning.

"We were doing well until October, that was when we noticed the drop off. But the severity of the recession caught us by surprise. We thought why is this hitting us so hard?"

Sir David explained that the main reason for their plummeting profits was that the supply chain fell away, especially from the metal cutting and motor industries, and from companies in China and Japan where the global recession has had a massive impact on many of their regular buyers.

"It became quite clear when we got to January that things were really desperate and that is when we informed our staff what was happening."

Renishaw’s first step was to ask for voluntary redundancies and later to roll out a scheme which asked staff to take a 20 per cent pay cut, whilst remaining working full-time hours.

This pay cut was accepted by all British employees including Sir David and all senior staff.

However, facing expected losses of £10 million in the second half of the year it was decided that compulsory redundancies were the only way to save money.

"The procedure was quite horrific, particularly for those who had to leave but also for those who had to carry out the process of making people redundant," said Sir David.

Despite the difficult past few months Sir David and assistant chief executive Ben Taylor spoke of their optimism that the company can weather the storm and remain strong in the current market.

Both the medical and dental sectors of Renishaw are still doing well and staff have been working on a state-of-the-art robot for brain surgery.

"We still have excellent products and we still have customers, it is just at the moment they are not buying anything," added Sir David. "Everyone really wants to focus on progressing from this point on."

Renishaw has established drop-in centres, in partnership with Jobcentre Plus, at its three county factories to offer support and advice to those staff who have been made redundant.