More bad news from Marconi

4,000 jobs could go....

Troubled telecoms company Marconi has forecast another year of woe after announcing disappointing results and a further 4,000 job cuts. The company reported a £130m operating loss for the communications division in the third quarter of 2002 and a fall in sales from £893m to £706m. Finance director Steve Hare told reporters that the outlook for the year ahead was "still very difficult. We don't expect to see any improvement in the market for the whole of 2002." The UK has been the toughest market, as BT has been cutting its investments in core network infrastructure, Marconi chief executive Mike Parton told the Financial Times. Plans to cut debt have also been slower to come to fruition than expected and the company has now lowered its sales target - hence the job cuts. The company had previously been aiming to break even when sales reached £800m, but it now hopes to be breaking even with sales of £675m - which means cutting costs and therefore jobs. The cuts will bring the total number of job cuts at the company to 13,000, leaving 25,000.