EMPLOYEES at a company that makes Kleenex and Andrex products could face losing their jobs as thousands of staff are cut globally.

Texas-based Kimberly-Clark, which has an office in Trafalgar Place, Brighton, has announced it plans to axe between 5,000 to 5,500 staff across the globe in an attempt to make annual savings of £1.1 billion over the next three years.

The company employs about 1,600 people in the UK and also has offices in Kent and Surrey as well as manufacturing plants in Kent, Cumbria and Flint, Wales.

The company’s chairman and CEO Thomas Falk said: “In 2017, we delivered bottom-line growth in a challenging environment.

“Although we expect market conditions will remain challenging in the near term, we plan to deliver better results in 2018 while we begin to implement our new restructuring.

“We believe that, over time, our 2018 global restructuring programme will accelerate our return to delivering on our long-term growth objectives.

“This is the biggest restructuring we have undertaken since the introduction of our global business plan in 2003, and it will make our company leaner, stronger and faster.”

Between 12 to 13 per cent of its current global workforce is expected to be cut.

The company will sell or close ten of its production factories and will look to cut staff across all business areas around the world.

The business expects to generate costs of between £1.2 billion and £1.34 billion as a result of the job losses and restructuring scheme.

When contacted by The Argus yesterday, the company declined to say how many members of staff it employs in Brighton.

It also declined to say how many employees in the city may lose their jobs.

The company will consult unions, works councils and other labour stakeholders.

A Kimberly-Clark spokeswoman said: “The company is not providing specifics on the status of any of our production facilities or the proposed job reductions until final decisions are made and announced.”