She added that even if M&S was to reduce its workforce, “a figure of 800 people is totally beyond the realm of possibilities”.However, she conceded that the blue-chip retailer, which was rocked by a shock profit warning last month, could soon announce the results of a wide-ranging review of its business.The internal inquiry, which is looking at cutting costs and restructuring M&S operations, is not due to finish until June. The company yesterday was forced to deny reports that it was poised to axe 800 senior and middle management staff in a bid to slash costs and increase efficiencies.
A spokeswoman said that the stories were “purely speculative” and no decision had been taken over redundancies. PETER SALSBURY, the new Marks & Spencer chief executive, is to meet City analysts next week amid growing speculation that Britain’s top retailer is to announce its first job cuts since 1992. This year it is launching five new models and eight new engines in Europe.Akira Imai, president of marketing and engineering for Toyota Motor Europe, said the company had no plans to merge with BMW or any other Western carmakers, even though Toyota’s financial position is strong.In the six months to the end of last September it made profits of Y403bn (pounds 2.1bn), on sales of Y6.2 trillion..

This means that production at Deeside will rise to 200,000 by the end of this year from 108,000 in 1998.But it will double again to 400,000 a year once the Valenciennes factory is fully operational. This will create about 200 jobs on top of the 3,200 that Toyota already employs at Burnaston and Deeside.Toyota is also planning to cut the size of its 3,400-strong European dealer network by up to 25 per cent. This would reduce the number of dealerships by around 850.In the UK Toyota has 240 Toyota dealerships and 55 dealerships selling the upmarket Lexus range.Following its success in Europe last year, when Toyota’s market share exceeded 3 per cent for the first time, the company has set itself the target of becoming one of Europe’s five biggest car sellers in the next six years.Toyota aims to sell 600,000 cars in 1999 and 800,000 in 2005, giving it a 5 per cent market share. Executives from Toyota, the biggest carmaker in Japan and the third biggest in the world, said yesterday that sites in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic were being examined as potential locations for a new car factory.
Another possibility is to expand Toyota’s new plant at Valenciennes in northern France, which will start production of a new small car, the Yaris, in 2001.Toyota denied that its plans were being influenced by the fact that Britain was outside the new euro zone, pointing out that production at its Burnaston plant in Derbyshire would rise to 200,000 cars this year.But Juan Jose Diaz Ruiz, executive vice-president of sales and marketing for Toyota Motor Europe, said: “Commonsense says we like to plan long- term and if there is one currency across Europe it makes it easier for us to plan.”France was selected for Toyota’s second car plant because the biggest market for small cars is in southern European countries such as Spain and Italy.Sites in eastern and central Europe are now being examined for the third plant because those are the regions where the biggest growth in demand is forecast to take place.Toyota plans to equip all the cars it builds in Europe with engines from the Deeside plant.

THE JAPANESE car manufacturer Toyota is planning to build its third European assembly plant outside Britain but there could be consolation for the UK in the shape of a doubling of production at its Deeside engine plant in North Wales. These include Marinus Minderhoud, the previous head of the firm. Since his departure, the global chief operating officer, Peter Bennett, has quit, followed by Jeremy Palmer, the head of equities.In their memo to staff, Mr Robins and Michel Tilmant, the main board member responsible for corporate and investment banking within ING, acknowledged there had been “errors in judgement and control failures” in 1998.The group chairman, Godfried van der Lugt, also dismissed talk that the shake-up could herald the closure or sale of ING Barings.. In an internal memo circulated yesterday staff were also warned that discretionary bonuses for the year just gone will be “below initial expectations” while in 1999 bonus payments will be tied more closely to overall performance by the firm.
Chief executive officer David Robins, who joined the bank from UBS, is to reorganise its activities on product lines, in a bid to end the squabbling between the geographical fiefdoms that grew up as a result of a ING’s mid-1990s spending spree.The new ING Barings is, Mr Robins said, to be “predominantly client focussed.”The bank insisted that the reorganisation would not result in any further job losses beyond the 1200 cuts announced in October.ING Barings has seen a raft of top level departures since the firm’s emerging market losses came to light. ING, the Dutch banking and insurance giant, is transferring control of ING Barings, its investment banking arm, from London to Amsterdam as part of a sweeping internal reorganisation sparked by last autumn’s huge emerging market losses, writes Andrew Garfield.