AST Europe prepares to be "nimble"

AST Europe will announce the extent of its job losses in two weeks while trying to reposition itself as a "leaner, more nimble and more focused PC company," according to Con Mallon, AST UK's marketing manager.

The restructuring will follow the US announcement this week that AST will post losses and is already conducting an internal review to try and regain profitability. As much as 37 per cent of the worldwide workforce could be cut.

Mallon added that "we cannot expect the recovery of the company to be based on just selling more units to more customers. It's a bit of a cliché but we cannot be all things to all people. We must be nimbler and more focused to gain stability and then take it from there."

AST will, according to Mallon, focus on increasing unit value and concentrating on particular customer segments. Specific details of this restructure will not be available until two weeks when the European division of the company is due to announce the outcome of its internal review.

Meanwhile Mallon is adamant that this has nothing to do with lack of ambition. "We are ambitious," he said. "Samsung is very ambitious and we will try and grow again."

However, Mallon did warn other tier two PC vendors that "chasing the Holy Grail of volume sales" has its price. "The market is too aggressive for many manufacturers to compete and make money," he said.