AgfaPhoto UK has made around 20 staff redundant – more than a quarter of its staff – sources close to the company have revealed.
The losses, which took effect last Friday, are understood to be all within the sales and marketing section of AgfaPhoto UK which is based in Brentford, Middlesex.
The company employs around 70 people. AgfaPhoto?s products include photographic papers, film and chemicals.
The news comes amid reports that AgfaPhoto?s parent company AgfaPhoto GmbH ? based is Leverkusen, Germany ? has been put up for sale.
AgfaPhoto GmbH is the consumer imaging arm of Agfa which was sold to management and a group of financial investors in November 2004. It filed for insolvency earlier this year.
At the time, a spokesman for AgfaPhoto UK claimed that the UK operation was ?trading strongly and was financially viable?.
In the past week it has been reported that photobooth operator Photo-Me International has expressed an interest in buying AgfaPhoto.
No-one at AgfaPhoto UK was available for comment at the time of writing.
? Pentax UK has made three out of its four nationwide photographic sales reps redundant in a shake-up reflecting the growth of digital photography. The move will involve the hiring of two new ?key account managers? – meaning the team will lose one position overall. A spokesman said this will produce a sales team with a ‘more balanced set of skills’ for selling ?mass market? consumer electronics products to shops such as John Lewis, but insisted that it will not lead to a reduction in the number of sales rep visits to specialist camera shops. For more details keep an eye out for AP?s news pages.
