Rolls-Royce axes 800 jobs from global marine division

Engine maker Rolls-Royce is axing 800 jobs in its marine division as weakness in the oil and gas sector takes its toll.

The UK-based firm said it was too early to say where the jobs axe would fall.

Its marine division employs 4,800 people in 34 countries including about 400 in the UK - half of them in Bristol and others in Dunfermline and the Midlands.

The unit's workforce has already been slashed from 6,000 in 2015.

Rolls said in a trading update two weeks ago that it had seen no recovery in its oil and gas markets, meaning further revenue weakness was expected next year.

The announcement shows how the plunge in oil prices is having a knock-on effect on businesses that serve the sector.

It comes just a day after an agreement between OPEC countries to cut production - the first such deal in eight years - sent the price of a barrel of Brent crude sharply higher.

But the price is still about 50% lower than in mid-2014.

The Rolls-Royce cuts are part of an overhaul to make annual cost savings of £45-50m.

Its marine division supplies technology to the operators of merchant, offshore and naval vessels.

Mikael Makinen, president of the unit, said: "The ongoing market weakness that has followed the dramatic fall in the price of oil continues to have an adverse impact upon our order book and profitability.

"Reducing our workforce is never an easy decision, but we have no option but to take further action beyond the changes we have made to date."