Vestas cuts over 2,000 jobs after profit wipe-out
Friday, 13 January 2012
COPENHAGEN, Jan 12 (Reuters): Danish wind turbine maker Vestas will cut 2,335 jobs in a bid to restore profitability after rising costs wiped out its 2011 earnings.
Vestas Wind Systems A/S said the cuts, about a tenth of its workforce, would help it reduce costs by more than 150 million euros ($190.3 million) by year-end. Another 1,600 jobs could go at U.S. plants if a tax credit for renewable energy is not extended.
The world's biggest wind turbine maker is battling fierce competition, including from Chinese rivals , as well as the threat of subsidy cuts for renewable energy by hard-pressed governments forced to tighten budgets.
Vestas said that Chief Executive Ditlev Engel would remain in his current post, but Chief Financial Officer Henrik Norremark would become chief operating officer and acting CFO until a replacement is found.
"I can certainly understand if employees as well as people outside Vestas consider us to be in a state of crisis," Engel said. "The challenges we have faced in the fourth quarter of 2011 have given us a credibility problem. It is not undeserved."
Vestas Wind Systems A/S said the cuts, about a tenth of its workforce, would help it reduce costs by more than 150 million euros ($190.3 million) by year-end. Another 1,600 jobs could go at U.S. plants if a tax credit for renewable energy is not extended.
The world's biggest wind turbine maker is battling fierce competition, including from Chinese rivals , as well as the threat of subsidy cuts for renewable energy by hard-pressed governments forced to tighten budgets.
Vestas said that Chief Executive Ditlev Engel would remain in his current post, but Chief Financial Officer Henrik Norremark would become chief operating officer and acting CFO until a replacement is found.
"I can certainly understand if employees as well as people outside Vestas consider us to be in a state of crisis," Engel said. "The challenges we have faced in the fourth quarter of 2011 have given us a credibility problem. It is not undeserved."