Philips Electronics, Europe’s largest maker of consumer electronics, said it will cut 6,000 jobs and halt its share buyback program after reporting its first quarterly loss in almost six years.
A spokesman for Philips Ireland said its operations would be unaffected by the job cuts and that the group was recruiting here.
Philips employs 110 sales marketing and distribution staff in Ireland. It also employs 50 staff in the North as a result of its purchase of Northern Ireland healthcare IT company Tomcat Systems.
The lighting unit, which has suffered from declining demand from carmakers and mobile-phone manufacturers, will be affected the most by the employment cuts, chief executive Gerard Kleisterlee said in a conference call.
Philips said will stop its €5 billion ($6.44 billion) share buyback "until further notice".
Philips reported a fourth quarter net loss of €1.5 billion ($1.9 billion), its first quarterly loss since 2003, on writedowns on some of its stakes and acquisitions.
Analysts in a Reuters poll were expecting a net loss of €1.2 billion, with individual estimates of 10 analysts ranging from a loss of €1.3 billion to €1 billion.
"The development of our quarterly results reflects the unprecedented speed and ferocity with which the economy softened in 2008," Philips Chief Executive Gerard Kleisterlee said in a statement.
It proposed a 2008 dividend of €0.70 per share, unchanged from 2007, meeting analyst expectations.
Philips reported following a string of negative news from rivals, such as Japan's Sony, which warned it would post a record $2.9 billion annual operating loss, and Samsung Electronics posting its first quarterly loss ever.
Additional reporting: Bloomberg/Reuters
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/64c7504b-f9dd-4cbf-ad7c-534bbb1857e7.png)