Sony to close Japan plant, lay off 100 contract workers

Sony Corp will merge two of its wholly owned manufacturing subsidiaries, resulting in the closure of an equipment plant north of Tokyo and the eventual layoff of about 100 contract workers, the company said on Friday.

The move, which takes effect on April 1 next year, comes as analysts and investors urge the company to pull off a drastic restructuring of its loss-making television division.

Sony Manufacturing Systems, which makes factory equipment, will be absorbed by Sony EMCS, the electronics giant's main domestic manufacturing subsidiary, which makes items such as televisions and computers at various sites around Japan.

The 411 regular workers at Sony Manufacturing Systems will be kept on at a different site, but 100 non-regular workers will not have their contracts renewed.

The company is considering selling off the buildings and land at the Saitama site, about 60 km (36 miles) north of Tokyo, a Sony spokesman said.



Source : reuters  [tags : recession bankrupt collapse retrenchment financial news collapse stagnation economic slowdown financial collapse world recession global recession layoff job cut]

BAE Systems to cut nearly 3,000 UK jobs

Europe's biggest defense contractor BAE Systems said it will cut nearly 3,000 jobs in Britain as smaller global defense budgets hit orders for its fighter jets.

BAE said the four partner nations in the Eurofighter Typhoon program -- the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain -- were slowing production rates to help ease their budget pressures, affecting the workload at a number of sites.

The company, one of the largest prime contractors in the U.S, said production was also slowing on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet, a U.S. program led by Lockheed Martin for which BAE produces the tailplane.
"Pressure on the U.S. defense budget and top level program changes mean the anticipated increase in F-35 production rates will be slower than originally planned, again impacting on our expected workload," said BAE in a statement on Tuesday.

The 2,942 job cuts from Britain's biggest manufacturer are a blow to the Conservative-led coalition government, which is seeking to rebalance the economy away from an over-reliance on financial services jobs in the overheated south-east of England.

Latest figures show unemployment rose at its fastest pace in two years, totaling 7.9 percent of the workforce.
Trades Union Congress chief Brendan Barber, speaking at the opposition Labour party conference in Liverpool in north-west England, said the job cuts were "yet another devastating body blow to our manufacturing base."

Many of the job losses will come from the north-west, traditionally a center of British manufacturing. Two - in Warton and Samlesbury and involved in Typhoon and F-35 production - are based in Lancashire.
A third site in north-east England, Brough, makes the Hawk training aircraft. BAE said it had begun consultation on ending manufacturing capability at Brough, which also runs a structural testing facility. Around 400 posts will remain there from a current workforce of 1,300.

Critics of the government say its austerity program is choking off growth and risks plunging the country back into another recession.

Unite, the biggest trade union representing BAE workers, vowed to fight the lay-offs.
"The government cannot sit on its hands and allow these highly skilled jobs to disappear," it said.
"It's a dark day for thousands of skilled men and women across the country and it is a dark day for British manufacturing. BAE Systems have dealt a hammer blow to the UK defense industry and Unite is determined to fight the cuts."

Weapons makers globally are bracing for more cuts in defense spending sparked partly by this summer's debt-ceiling deal in the United States -- the world's biggest arms market.
British industry body ADS said it feared that the job losses would be "only the tip of the iceberg," citing a fall in government defense spending from 10 percent 20 years ago to 5 percent currently.

"With such cutbacks under governments that have included all three major parties this is not a party political issue but a matter of the national interest that has a profound impact on the capabilities of both our Armed Forces and our industrial base," ADS chairman Ian Godden said in a statement.
Howard Wheeldon, Senior Strategist at BGC Partners, said he had believed for some time that such a course was inevitable.

"While the loss...will be a serious blow to hopes of rebuilding the manufacturing skills base as a public company BAE must in terms of employment cut its coat according to the cloth available."
The U.S. defense department is cutting at least $350 billion from previously projected spending, and additional cuts could kick in if Congress fails to find more deficit reductions by year-end.
Britain, meanwhile, slashed its defense budget by 8 percent last year to help reduce its deficit, hitting BAE, which makes around a fifth of its revenue in the UK.

BAE, which has already laid off around 15,000 employees worldwide over the last two years, reported a decline in first half pretax profit in July.

The company, which has a 33 percent stake in the Eurofighter joint venture company alongside EADS and Finmeccanica, is continuing to pursue Typhoon sales in India, Japan, Oman and Malaysia and has said exporting the fighter aircraft remains a priority.

British and U.S. arms suppliers have been battling to win new business in emerging defense markets as they look to offset the belt-tightening at home.



Source : Reuters  [tags : recession bankrupt collapse retrenchment financial news collapse stagnation economic slowdown financial collapse world recession global recession layoff job cut]

HSBC sheds 30,000 jobs, posts surprise profit rise

HSBC will shed 30,000 jobs as it retreats from countries where it is struggling to compete, Europe's biggest bank said on Monday after it reported a surprise rise in first-half profit.

Shares in HSBC rose over 4 percent after it unveiled first-half pretax profits of $11.5 billion, up from $11.1 billion a year ago and better than the $10.8 billion average in a Reuters poll of analysts.

The bank also said it had cut 5,000 jobs following restructuring of operations in Latin America, the United States, Britain, France and the Middle East and that it would cut another 25,000 between now and 2013.
"There will be further job cuts," Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver told reporters on a conference call. "There will be something like 25,000 roles eliminated between now and the end of 2013."

The cuts equate to roughly 10 percent of HSBC's total workforce. They come on top of planned reductions in overall headcount in a program of disposals that also forms part of a plan to focus on HSBC's Asian operations.

The bank is reversing a strategy that had been criticized for "planting flags" around the world.

Gulliver's far-reaching plan unveiled three months ago aims to slash costs and he intends to sell, shut or slim down retail banking in 39 countries.

HSBC said on Sunday it would sell 195 U.S. branches to First Niagara Financial for about $1 billion in cash, and close another 13 of the 470 sites it had.

The bank also intends to sell HSBC's U.S. credit card portfolio, which has more than $30 billion in assets, a move which would free up capital. Capital One Financial Corp and Wells Fargo are among the bidders, sources have said.

Another suitor could be Barclays.

HSBC is the first of Britain's big banks to report for the quarter. Rivals are also cutting jobs and shaking up their business model as the euro zone debt crisis has hit fixed income trading revenues hard and tougher regulations are hurting returns for investors.

The bank on Monday highlighted risks to global economic recovery from increased regulation, particularly as governments grapple with sovereign debt crises and try to plug holes in their budgets.

"The pace and quantum of regulatory reform continues to increase at the same time as the global economy appears to be losing momentum in its recovery," HSBC said.



Source : Reuters
[tags : recession bankrupt collapse retrenchment financial news collapse stagnation economic slowdown financial collapse world recession global recession layoff job cut]