Motorola's shares fell yesterday after the communications equipment and semiconductor manufacturer warned it expected only break-even operating results in the third quarter, despite job cuts and consolidation of manufacturing operations.

Third quarter operating performance would be similar to that of the second quarter as the group continued to battle against weaknesses in its mobile telecommunications operations and the effects of the Asia crisis, said Mr Robert Growney, president and chief operating officer.

The company's shares, which had traded above $56 in after hours trading on Tuesday, were down $1 from Tuesday's official close at $53 in mid session yesterday. Motorola employs 1,600 people in Ireland.

After the close of trading on Tuesday, Motorola reported second quarter operating earnings of just 1 cent a share, against 64 cents a share in the same period last year. Total sales for the second quarter were $7 bilion, down 7 per cent from $7.5 billion a year earlier.

The company's pessimism about its largest businesses - cellular telephone equipment and semiconductors - took analysts by surprise.

Motorola was experiencing "severe pricing pressure" in its equipment businesses, as well as in semiconductors, said Mr Growney, largely as a result of economic problems in Asia, which were likely to intensify in the third quarter.

As expected, the company took a second quarter restructuring charge of $1.91 billion before taxes, or $2.23 a share after tax, as it moved to consolidate manufacturing operations. This brought second quarter losses to $1.3 billion, or $2.22 a share, compared with net earnings of $268n million, or 44 cents a share, in the second quarter of 1997.

Mr Growney said Motorola had reduced its workforce by 2,200 during the second quarter and a loss of an additional 6,700 jobs was planned.