Vacuum cleaner manufacturer Dyson will cut almost 1,000 jobs in Britain, over a quarter of its workforce in the country, as part of a global restructuring, its CEO said. The company, which was founded by James Dyson, employs 3,500 people in Britain. Dyson CEO Hanno Kirner said, “We have grown quickly and, like all companies, we review our global structures from time to time to ensure we are prepared for the future. As such, we are proposing changes to our organisation, which may result in redundancies.”

He added, “Dyson operates in increasingly fierce and competitive global markets, in which the pace of innovation and change is only accelerating. We know we always need to be entrepreneurial and agile – principles that are not new to Dyson.”

Dyson makes air purifiers, hair dryers and other appliances and began moving manufacturing from Malmesbury to Malaysia in 2002. The company also opened a plant in Singapore in 2013 to make digital motors and then moved its corporate office to Singapore in 2019- closer to its manufacturing sites and Asian markets that account for much of its sales.

Since then, Dyson has continued to invest in research and development and product design in Britain. The company also worked on an electric vehicle until the project was abandoned in 2019.