AILING Hereford cider maker HP Bulmer is cutting 200 jobs as it tries to shake off the effects of a disastrous year.

The firm, famous for Strongbow, is also calling time on its international aspirations after running up hefty losses overseas.

Bulmers has issued five profits warnings this year after finding a black hole in its accounts and taking a pounding from new ready-to-drink products such as Smirnoff Ice.

Both its chief executive and finance director have left the company and it has now decided to put its energy into its core UK brands.

Most of the 200 job cuts will be at its UK headquarters in Hereford. The cuts come on top of 80 redundancies in the summer.

Bulmer's acting chief executive Colin Brown said 200 may not be the final number of job cuts and consultation with staff would begin "in the New Year".

But the group plans to wipe "double-digit millions of pounds" from its cost base through its restructuring programme.

This programme will also see Bulmer's product portfolio slashed to 120 from 350, with the focus on both Strongbow and beer brand San Miguel.

The international business is being re-shaped with the group looking to export its brands through third parties to "minimise risk".

Bulmer Australia is being sold to Aussie giant Carlton & United Breweries in a £22.5m deal announced today.

Operating losses in the group's overseas business ran to £3m in the half-year to October 25, compared with losses of £1.3m a year ago.

Overall, the firm's pre-tax losses over the six months have hit £34.4m, against losses of £3.7m a year ago.

Mr Brown said the results reflected a "period of great turbulence" for the business but added Strongbow had continued to perform well.

Volume sales of the brand, advertised on TV by Johnny Vaughan, rose 7 per cent in the half-year against a further decline in the cider market.

But operating profits in the UK fell to £5.8m in the half-year from £12m a year ago.

Bulmer's new chief executive, Miles Templeman, best known for developing Stella Artois' "reassuringly expensive" image, starts work next month.

Mr Brown said he believed the Bulmer's business was "inherently strong".