Husqvarna Group Walks the Rio de Mouro Sintra Factory Into Its End-of-2026 Closure Window — Stone Diamond Tools Exit Cuts SEK 250 Million of Annual Sales Across Portugal, Belgium and Greece in Glen Instone's Portfolio Cut

The Swedish power-tools group Husqvarna has confirmed that its stone-diamond-tools manufacturing operations in Rio de Mouro, Sintra — alongside companion sites in Belgium and Greece — walk into a closure window that completes by the end of 2026. The announcement was made on 6 May 2026 in a market-disclosure release signed by CEO Glen Instone and has now landed in the Portuguese economic press through the Q1 2026 trading commentary the group filed last week. Approximately 200 people work in the affected stone-tools business across the three countries; the Portuguese unit at Rio de Mouro carries roughly half of that headcount.

What is being closed

The discontinued business sits inside Husqvarna's Sawing and Drilling Business Portfolio Unit, which is one of three Portfolio Units reporting into the group's Construction Division. The product line is diamond tools for the cutting, drilling and grinding of natural and engineered stone — saw blades, core bits, edge profiles, polishing cup wheels — sold into countertop fabricators, stone-yards and architectural-stone contractors. The exit covers the three manufacturing sites plus all global service centres and sales activities linked to the stone business worldwide. The Construction Division's adjacent product lines for concrete cutting, demolition and floor preparation are not affected.

The financial frame

Husqvarna disclosed a SEK 250 million reduction in annual net sales (approximately €22 million at current rates) from the exit, and characterised the operating-margin effect on the Construction Division as 'slightly accretive' — meaning the stone-tools line was running below the divisional margin band and the exit lifts the average. Full withdrawal is targeted for the end of 2026. The group framed the decision as 'disciplined portfolio management and more focused capital allocation' under the strategy CEO Glen Instone set out at the September 2025 Capital Markets Day, which prioritised investment in segments with 'the strongest potential to deliver margin expansion and attractive returns.'

The Rio de Mouro site

The Sintra facility — registered under Husqvarna Portugal, S.A., at Estrada Terras da Lagoa, Rio de Mouro freguesia, Sintra municipality — has manufactured diamond stone-tooling for the European and Mediterranean markets for more than two decades. The site sits inside the Greater Lisbon industrial corridor that has carried more than a fair share of European manufacturing-footprint reductions in 2026: Enercon shut a Viana do Castelo wind-turbine factory in February (68 jobs), Yazaki Saltano announced a 163-position colectivo in Ovar in January, and Bosch Braga is mid-way through a 2,500-headcount lay-off that ends in April 2026. The Husqvarna print adds approximately 100 Portuguese jobs to that ledger.

What happens to the workers

Husqvarna's release commits to conducting the exit 'with consideration for employees, consulting with works councils and unions across affected countries.' Under Portuguese labour law, a closure of this scale qualifies as a despedimento colectivo and triggers the ACT-supervised consultation process with worker representatives, alongside compensation calculated under Article 366 of the Código do Trabalho. The trade union FIEQUIMETAL, which carries the metallurgical-sector representation at Rio de Mouro, has yet to publish its formal response, but the union's general line has been to push for redeployment offers inside the remaining Husqvarna Portugal footprint (commercial and warehousing) and for top-up compensation beyond the legal floor where possible.

Sources: Husqvarna Group market-disclosure release, 6 May 2026; Jornal de Negócios; PR Newswire; Husqvarna Q1 2026 trading update.