Recently merged British software company LogicaCMG announced today another 800 job cuts, a fall in interim profits and a mixed outlook for the European IT industry.
The firm which now employs 100 people in the State, undertakes cutting-edge research in mobile phone technologies.
In January it announced the closure of a software unit in Cork and the shedding significant numbers of jobs at its Dublin offices. More than 850 people had been employed by Logica and CMG in the Republic at the height of the tech boom in 2000.
It is not clear this morning if any of the proposed new job cuts would be sought from the company's Irish operation.
The group said that it had seen greater stability of pricing in the IT services markets in Britain and Benelux, but the French and German markets continued to weaken.
The firm said that it would cut another 800 jobs on top of the 1,400 already announced in November when the merger was unveiled. The latest cuts take the total layoffs to about 9.5 per cent of its workforce.
The group reported pre-tax profit before exceptional items and goodwill for the six months to December of £54.5 million sterling (79.0 million), down 6 per cent from the previous six months.
The figures were reported under merger accounting conventions, the company said. Revenue fell seven percent from the previous half year to £882.5 million.
After restructuring costs, goodwill amortisation and impairment charges, pre-tax losses were £444.7 million, giving a loss per share of 62.4 pence, against a loss of 40.3 pence in the six months to June 2002.
The price of shares in the group slumped 5.1 per cent to 112.25 pence in early trading.