US data storage group EMC said yesterday proposed job cuts would eat into fourth-quarter profits.

In a trading statement, the group said it expected earnings per share after tax to come in at the upper end of its previous forecast of 16-17 US cents.

However, it will take an $80 million (€65.8 million) charge in the period to cover redundancy costs associated with 1,000 jobs the company proposes to shed this year. That, and other exceptional charges relating to the recently completed acquisition of Captiva Software, will reduce fourth-quarter net earnings per share to around six cents, the company said.

The company raised its fourth-quarter sales projections and now expects to post turnover of just over $2.7 billion, up from an earlier target of $2.67 billion to $2.69 billion.

For 2005 as a whole, EMC expects to report turnover of around $9.65 billion, 17 per cent above 2004 sales and a company record.

It also said it has repatriated accumulated income earned abroad of about $3 billion, leading to a fourth-quarter income tax charge of about $175 million.

EMC said the workforce restructuring was part of a programme to refocus the group's energies on new product development and "the company's ability to target, reach and support more customers around the globe".

The company said it has approved a plan to "rebalance" its workforce. While 1,000 positions will go, the company said it expected to hire staff in other areas and expected its workforce at year end to exceed current numbers.

The jobs cuts will be spread across the group's geographic areas and business units, a US-based spokesman said, without elaborating.

An Irish spokeswoman for EMC, which employs 1,400 people in Cork and Dublin, said the company's Irish operation "does not see this as a concern".

She said any "rebalancing" of staff numbers would be achieved through "attrition and performance management". She also pointed out that EMC would continue to recruit in Ireland this year.

However, she was unable to say what the net impact of the job cuts programme would be on the company's plants in Ireland, where it established its first manufacturing operation outside the US in 1988.

The company will announce fourth-quarter figures on January 24th.