With cuts in Manaus, Philco's owner lays off almost 10% of its total employees

Britânia Eletrodomésticos, owner of the Britânia and Philco brands, laid off 860 employees from its Manaus factory this month. Headquartered in Curitiba, the company has two other factories in Joinville, Santa Catarina, and Linhares, Espírito Santo. The layoff represents about a third (32%) of the Manaus unit's workforce and 9% of the company's total direct employees, which employs approximately 10,000 people.

The Manaus factory is dedicated solely to the production of Philco appliances, an American brand that has been in Brazil since 1934, but only passed to Britânia in 2007 , after previously being owned by Itautec and Gradiente. The unit manufactures air conditioners, microwaves, and televisions.

According to Britânia, this is "a one-off restructuring process," as the sales projection for the year needed to be redone, especially involving the production of air conditioning, which the company classifies as a seasonal product.

"Even with the stability in sales of products produced in Manaus, evaluating the current scenario and the company's structure, we identified the need for operational adjustments — which unfortunately includes the reduction of the workforce, in order to maintain the sustainability of the business," he told Folha in a statement.

According to Britânia, the decision does not involve other units of the group and "exclusively reflects the specific scenario of the Manaus plant".

The decision took employees and unions by surprise. "It's the largest cut in the Manaus Free Trade Zone in the last three years," says Valdemir Santana, president of the CUT (Central Única dos Trabalhadores) of Amazonas and president of the state's Metalworkers' Union. "The industrial hub has grown: from 96,000 employees in 2022 to 132,000 today," he states.

According to data from consultancies Euromonitor and GfK, which audit sales in the electronics and home appliance sectors, the air conditioning and microwave segments have been growing, while the TV segment has remained stable.

The air conditioning market, for example, generated R$10.3 billion in revenue last year in Brazil, a 15.4% increase year-over-year, according to Euromonitor. This year, a 7.7% increase is forecast, reaching R$11.1 billion.

According to GfK, microwave sales increased by 19.1% in 2024 and 12.8% in the first five months of this year alone, compared to the same period last year. This segment generated R$1.7 billion in revenue in 2024, according to Euromonitor.

The television market has been stable, as a technology shift to TV 3.0 is expected soon . It generated R$19.2 billion in revenue last year (up 4.7% year-over-year) and is expected to grow 3.8% this year, to R$19.9 billion, according to Euromonitor.

In units, according to GfK, there was a 4.7% increase in television sales last year and a slight drop of 0.8% between January and May this year, compared to the same period in 2024.

Privately held, Britânia does not disclose financial statements. At Folha 's request, the Klooks platform, which compiles public company data, estimated the group's annual revenue at between R$1.5 billion and R$2 billion, based on public information from similar companies.

Philco pioneered television production in the country in the 1950s. It launched the first TV with remote control in 1960, and the first color sets in the 1970s, a period in which the first microwaves arrived on the Brazilian market.

In a statement, Britânia said it had the support of the Manaus workers' union to "align a collective agreement and treat the issue with great care and with the least possible impact."

"All laid-off employees will receive, in addition to their legal rights, additional benefits such as continued health insurance until the end of August or until the end of their notice period. Basic food baskets will be delivered, three [baskets] for employees with up to two years of employment and four basic food baskets for those with more than two years with the company."