Muller cuts 50 jobs - including at Shropshire HQ

More than 50 jobs are being axed at dairy giant Muller as the company looks to cut costs across all of its departments, including its Shropshire HQ.

The jobs will go across all departments of the company's UK and Irish operations.

The company – which has its main UK base at Market Drayton, where most of its British staff are based – said talks were now under way over 55 redundancies.

It is thought the majority of the jobs will be cut at Market Drayton.

A Muller Dairy UK spokesman said: "We need to remain competitive in a difficult economic climate.

"As costs continue to rise, particularly raw materials, we must continually review our cost base and our efficiencies in order to remain strong.

"We are consulting with staff via our employee forum about how this will be achieved.

"Their co-operation and ongoing professionalism, in the face of this unsettling news, is commendable."

The news comes quickly after the firm launched its largest-ever marketing campaign, spending £20 million on an advertisement which launched with a 90-second slot shown simultaneously across 50 different channels, including during the first live show of the X Factor.

Marketing manager Lee Rolston, the man behind that campaign, has left after just over a year in the role.

Chief executive Gharry Eccles left the firm last month, and is to be replaced in the new year by Ronald Kers, former chief executive of rival Nestlé's Austria and Slovenia operation.