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Oce cuts jobs, warns on U.S. operations
* Plans to cut 350 jobs as part of cost cutting programme
* Warns of sales declines in U.S. financial and construction sector
* Wants to expand cross-selling partnerships with Konica Minolta, Fuji Xerox, and Canon Inc
AMSTERDAM,
April 09 – Dutch photocopier and printer maker Oce plans job cuts due
to economic uncertainty as it warned on Thursday of sales declines in
the U.S. financial and construction sector, and its stock fell more
than 9 percent.Oce, which reported a quarterly net profit rise due to a
one-off gain from a unit sale, said it planned to increase cost cuts to
80 million euros ($125 million) in 2008 from 50 million euro announced
previously due to economic uncertainty.Shares of the company fell as
much as 9.4 percent to 9.86 euros and traded down 7.3 percent at 10.09
euros by 0955 GMT, making them the biggest decliner in the Amsterdam
midcap index, which was down 0.7 percent.Half of the extra cost cuts
would come from reducing expenses such as travel costs and consultancy
fees, Oce CEO Rokus van Iperen told Reuters in an interview.”The other
15 million euros in costs savings will be through personnel costs. We
will cut jobs, and estimate this will affect about 350 jobs globally,”
Van Iperen said.Economic developments were affecting Oce’s operations,
especially in the financial sector where the purchase of new very high
volume printers was postponed, Oce said in a statement.”There was also
a decrease in printing volume at banks and in the construction sector,
particularly in the United States,” said Oce, which reported a 75
percent rise in net profit to 21 million euros due to one-off gains of
15 million euros.Sales declined 3.7 percent to 702 million euros in the
first quarter ended on Feb. 29 compared to first quarter sales in 2007
due to exchange rate effects such as a lower dollar versus the euro,
Oce said.Analysts were disappointed about Oce’s organic sales
growth rate of 1.3 percent.”We reiterate that the risks are to the
downside, and mounting. The additional savings may not be sufficient to
offset the deteriorating demand impact,” ING analyst Marcel Achterberg
said in a note.Oce CEO Van Iperen said the company would like to expand
partnerships with Japan-based Konica Minolta, Fuji Xerox, and Canon Inc
to cross-sell printing machines but he did not give details.Van Iperen
could not give an outlook for this year as it was hard to predict short
term operational developements.”The visibility of our business so
limited that you run the risk of misguiding everyone,” he said.
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