UP TO 115 people are to lose their jobs in a relocation shake-up at a leading company in Hampshire, it emerged today.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is upping sticks to move 75 miles away from its regional office near Southampton to its £75m commercial headquarters deep in the Surrey countryside.

It is understood that a further 60 of the 175 employees locally are to move with the company, which is the biggest pharmaceutical in the UK.

Pfizer, which makes over-the-counter medicines such as children's pain reliever Calpol, today ruled out any suggestion of downsizing.

Projects director Richard Crow said: "We are sorry that some people cannot come with us.

"The reason is that we have to get our business units together and we have a new HQ. It's not about downsizing, it's about making the business better."

He stressed that everyone at the landmark office at Chandler's Ford, just off the M27, had been offered positions at the HQ in Walton Oaks, near Tadworth.

According to Mr Crown, "generous redundancy packages" are being made available to workers unable to join colleagues in Surrey.

The Daily Echo has learned that the company is pulling out of Chandler's Ford in March, with just a skeleton staff being retained until May.

Employees were made aware in mid-September that Pfizer was to relocate after they were told of the bombshell relocation plan in July.

An extensive consultation process between the company and staff had also taken place.

But a lid was kept on the news while details were ironed out in meetings between Pfizer and each worker over their futures.

Pfizer, which mainly has a marketing and sales force at the regional office in Chandler's Ford, is keen to centralise operations in Surrey. The relocation from the south coast is a further economic blow to the Chandler's Ford and Eastleigh area.

Three companies which employed hundreds of people between them - Ocular Sciences, Pirelli and APW Electronics - have all moved away.

Eastleigh council leader Keith House said: "We are always disappointed when jobs are lost to the local economy. But fortunately with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, those who have sadly lost their jobs should be in a good place to get new ones quickly."

Catherine Wright of Southampton Chamber of Commerce said: "It was disappointing to lose this many jobs in the local economy but in the global pharmaceutical market this sort of consolidation is not uncommon.