Fond du Lac-based outboard motor manufacturer
Mercury Marine will lay off 300 employees at its global headquarters, according to an announcement from the company.
The layoffs will take place now through July. The company is also making “some adjustments” to operations at its St. Cloud, Florida and Juarez, Mexico plants.
"These actions were taken due to softening of consumer demand in some of our markets mainly as a result of continued high interest rates and near-term reductions in boat production by Mercury’s boat builder partners," according to the statement from the company. "Mercury Marine's industry-leading products continue to gain market share around the world but at this time this is not sufficient to fully offset the overall market headwinds."
Brunswick Corp., the parent company of Mercury Marine, reported a 23% decrease in sales in the propulsion segment of its business in the first quarter of 2024.
"Our propulsion business delivered lower sales and operating earnings versus a record first quarter in 2023 as boat manufacturers and dealers moderated orders and managed production of current model year products and pipelines ahead of the retail season and model-year change-over," said
David Foulkes, chief executive officer of Brunswick, in an April press release.
Mercury Marine continues to employ more than 3,500 full-tome workers at its Fond du Lac headquarters.
