Most of the jobs will go in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, the home of the world famous china maker.

Fragile times ahead for the china and glass maker

The ceramics industry has been thrown into crisis following a crash in demand for products in Asia. The strong pound and financial turmoil in the region has created huge problems for Royal Doulton and its rivals.

Royal Doulton is not alone in suffering from the high value of sterling, which has decimated UK exporters' profits.

The group's woes will add to calls for further cuts in interest rates to reduce pressure on manufacturers and stimulate UK consumer demand.

Sales crash

Factories will be shut early for Christmas and warehouses will close

Royal Doulton said that sales have fallen by 5% over the past 11 months and that its future looks gloomy. A further 200 jobs will be cut worldwide.

Two warehouses will be shut in an effort to slash overheads. The majority of the group's factories will also close early for Christmas and re-open later in the New Year.

Over half the UK-based jobs will disappear by early January and most of the remainder will go by Easter.

Royal Doulton's shares collapsed 22p to 62p on the news.

Annual savings

Royal Doulton hopes that the measures will mean annual savings of £20m.

The company said it would not be able to offer a final dividend this year and added that it expected 1999 sales to be lower than 1998.