Michelin to cut up to 2,300 jobs over three years

PARIS (Reuters) -French tyre maker Michelin said on Wednesday it would cut up to 2,300 jobs over three years as part of a new simplification and competitiveness plan in France, adding this would not involve layoffs nor plant closures.

Michelin's share price was up 0.7% shortly after the stock market open, outperforming a 0.15% rise in Paris' CAC 40 index.

The job cuts equate to almost 2% of its global workforce.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hammered the auto industry, which was already struggling with the shift to electric vehicles from diesel and gasoline cars.

"The plan is part of a broad co-construction and social dialogue approach and will rely on negotiating a three-year framework agreement that will not entail any layoffs", the group said in a statement.

"The plan does not rely on plant closures", it added.

Michelin said the measures would affect up to 1,100 positions in offices and 1,200 positions in plants, stressing nearly 60% of the job reductions would be based on voluntary early retirement schemes.

The company, which employs more than 127,000 worldwide, also said it remained committed to locating "high value-added businesses in France", saying its "ambitious expansion strategy in hydrogen solutions" was an illustration of this.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Louise Heavens and Mark Potter)