One of the North East’s fastest growing companies has announced more than 75 redundancies after saying the global economic climate has brought “unprecedented challenges”.
Energy broker Northern Gas and Power - which last year moved to the landmark Riga building at Gateshead Quays and has also associated operations overseas through its parent company Global Procurement Group - said it had started a redundancy process which was likely to affect around 77 people.
The company specialises in helping companies get lower energy bills, but has been affected by the crisis in the global energy sector that has seen most power suppliers remove cheaper deals and offer only rates allowed by national governments. The job losses come in stark contrast to an announcement this time last year where the company talked of creating 100 new jobs as it aimed to continue a rapid expansion.
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A company spokesman said: “The global economic crisis has led to unprecedented challenges to businesses across the world, particularly in the energy sector. Northern Gas and Power has therefore made the difficult decision to consider employee redundancies. We anticipate that 77 people may face redundancy across our workforce. Our decision has not been taken lightly and we’d like to thank everyone for their patience as we await the outcome of our consultation.
“Meanwhile, we remain focused on our key priorities: maintaining our core business and supporting our colleagues through this difficult time; supporting our 30,000 customers to navigate this crisis; and focusing our efforts on ClearVUE to further diversify our business offering. These are uncertain times, but we are committed to weathering the storm and emerging even stronger.”
Northern Gas and Power started as a one-man operation in 2012 and had a headcount of around 750 last year. As well as its base in Gateshead, the company has operations in France, Malta, India and the US.
The company has been one of the region’s success stories of recent years, with its CEO Fokhrul Islam nominated as Entrepreneur of the Year and the company itself making a number of national lists for having the fastest profit and turnover growth.
It recently launched the ClearVUE energy management platform, which aims to help companies reach their net zero targets by identifying energy inefficiencies.
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