Upper Crust owner SSP to announce thousands of job cuts - report

Upper Crust owner SSP will reportedly announce plans to cut thousands of jobs on Wednesday as it looks to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Sky News, the company - which operates food outlets at airports and train stations in 35 countries - intends to axe up to 5,000 jobs, making more than half of its UK workforce redundant.

In a message circulated among staff on Tuesday and seen by Sky, the company said it had "come to the very difficult conclusion that we will need to simplify and reshape our business and, from tomorrow, we will be starting a collective consultation on a number of proposed changes to the business".

"This includes a proposed reorganisation which could lead to a headcount reduction of up to c.5,000 across SSP Group, SSP Finance and SSP UK, which includes all head office colleagues and both salaries and hourly paid colleagues in operations."