Ineos owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has frozen recruitment in his petrochemicals empire to focus on reducing its €11 billion mountain of debt.
The move follows an acquisition spree to expand its global reach, but it is now facing US tariffs and a downturn in the chemicals market.
Billionaire Sir Jim, who is the co-owner of Manchester United, has also stopped taking dividends from Ineos which he owns alongside co-founders Andy Currie and John Reece through a parent company in the Isle of Man.
Ineos, which controversially shut its Grangemouth oil refinery earlier this year, will stem capital expenditure, though it is going ahead with a huge investment in an ethylene plant in Antwerp, Belgium, having recently raised €650 million to fund the project. It is backed by a UK government loan guarantee, agreed with the Conservative government.
The company employs about 24,000 people across 30 business units covering the chemical, oil and gas industries. It will hire to replace essential employees who depart.
A spokesman for Ineos told The Times: “There is a general recruitment freeze, which means no increase in roles across the company. However, there are essential roles that we will need to maintain and in an organisation with 24,000 people there are a number of these that we continue to replenish as needed.”
The chemicals industry has been knocked by overcapacity and weak prices that credit analysts expect to persist until at least 2027.
The chemicals group reported that revenues fell to €3.8 billion from €4.4 billion in the three months ended 30 June, while it swung to a loss before tax of €42.9 million from profit of €291.8m in the same quarter in 2024. Ineos’s net debt at the end of June stood at €11.1bn.
#Ratcliffe #orders #hiring #freeze #cut #Ineos #debt #Daily #Business