City File: Wedgwood to shake off the blues

AFTER years of dreadful figures, culminating in the virtual collapse of the group a couple of years ago, Waterford Wedgwood appears finally to have lanced the boil of its production problems.

Tuesday's figures will show a whacking pounds 20m loss for the year, after charging pounds 15m worth of redundancy and restructuring costs.

After a series of strikes and stoppages, the group pushed through a deal with the workers at Waterford Glass last June, cutting half the workforce. The fine china side, Wedgwood, has also seen surgery and three factories have been closed.

But with consumer confidence returning in the US, sales should be up this year and Waterford Wedgwood could make a decent profit. That will be make a nice change.