Vestas cuts jobs
Windenergy - 24.01.2012: The Danish company Vestas Wind Systems A/S wants to reduce its costs by cutting more than 2,300 jobs by the end of this year. This was announced by the company at a press conference in Copenhagen in January. Vestas wants to cut its fixed costs by € 150 million by the end of 2012. This means that in the coming months 2,335 jobs will be lost, of which 1,300 will be in Denmark. Administration jobs will be particularly affected. If the tax advantages for manufacturers of wind turbines in the United States are cancelled at the end of the year, as the company fears, 1,600 jobs in the factories in the USA will also have to be cut, says Vestas.
source: Bielefelder Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
"I am truly sorry that we have to say goodbye to so many skilled and loyal Vestas colleagues. The expected layoffs are one of many steps that we are taking in order to bring down costs, allowing continuous development of our products and services and optimizing our already global presence in a highly competitive wind energy market", said Ditlev Engel, President and CEO of Vestas. It has become obvious that the current economic crisis, especially in Europe, is slowing down the energy supply revolution and making it more difficult, said Engel.
The Danes had issued a profit warning in the previous week. For last year, Vestas is now expecting that the turnover was only € 6 billion. In October, the group had already reduced its prognosis from 7 to € 6.4 billion. Furthermore, the company no longer expects to have made a profit before interest and tax (EBIT) in 2011.
source: Bielefelder Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
