Siemens, the German electronics group that employs more than 800 people in Ireland, plans to cut 3,000 jobs outside Germany at its loss-making IT services unit SBS. The cuts come in addition to 2,400 it is cutting in Germany, its chief executive said yesterday.
"If you look to the rest of the world, you can roughly add another 3,000," Klaus Kleinfeld told analysts a day after Siemens reported a drop in third-quarter operating profit partly due to a loss of €427 million at SBS.
Mr Kleinfeld added that he was ready to restructure the company further if necessary.
A spokesman for Siemens confirmed last night that the Irish operations of SBS, which employ 400 staff, will not be affected.
The extra job cuts come as part of Siemens's drive to save €1.5 billion at the struggling SBS division by 2007.
"Nothing is sacrosanct and nothing is carved in stone so nobody should assume that they have the right to live with us forever," he said.
The company specialises in helping organisations to plan, implement and manage their technology.
Siemens reported a 24 per cent increase in Irish sales on Thursday, after winning more contracts in the transport and energy sectors.
Turnover at the group's Irish operations rose to €215 million in the year to the end of September. New orders increased by 50 per cent to €265 million, outperforming the company's performance elsewhere in the world.
