Infineon posts heavy quarterly loss, to cut 3,000 jobs
German semi-conductor group Infineon posted Friday a heavy quarterly loss and announced the elimination of 3,000 jobs.
"It will be necessary to reduce headcount by a gross figure of approximately 3,000 employees," a company statement said.
"This figure refers to all sites, functions and levels across the company."
The cuts are part of a broader programme designed to save the company 200 million euros (315 million dollars) per year.
Infineon employs a total of 43,000 workers, including 13,500 at Qimonda, a loss-making subsidiary that it wants to sell.
The German group owns a 77.5 percent stake in Qimonda, which produces memory chips.
In the three months to June, the third quarter of its 2007/2008 fiscal year, Infineon lost 592 million euros, following a loss of 1.37 billion euros in the previous quarter, the statement said.
The latest loss stems in part from a writedown of 411 million euros in the value of its stake in Qimonda, which posted late Thursday a quarterly loss of 592 million euros.
Infineon said that sales in the quarter had amounted to 1.03 billion euros, down 2.0 percent from the previous quarter.
At the operating level, Infineon managed to turn in a profit of 71 million euros, however, better than expected by analysts.
It has already warned that fourth quarter results would be hit by one-off restructuring costs.
Copyright 2008 AFP Global Edition
