Philips Halts Buyback, Slashes 6,000 Jobs After Loss

[OhioChick]

Source: Bloomberg

Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Philips Electronics NV, Europe’s largest maker of televisions, will cut 6,000 jobs and stop buying back shares after reporting its first quarterly loss in almost six years.

Philips rose 8.3 percent in Amsterdam trading, the most in seven weeks, as cash-flow generation and net debt in the fourth quarter were better than some analysts had anticipated. Philips, led by Chief Executive Officer Gerard Kleisterlee, will halt its 5 billion-euro ($6.44 billion) share buyback “until further notice” to preserve cash.

“Stopping the buyback is the right path,” said Eric de Graaf, an Amsterdam-based analyst at Petercam, who has an “add” rating on the stock. “If you don’t know what’s going to happen in these difficult circumstances, it’s better to preserve your cash.”

Philips today posted its first loss since the first quarter of 2003 as the economic slump hurt the value of stakes in LG Display Co. and NXP BV. The planned firings come on top of the 3,000 jobs eliminated in the past quarter, spokesman Joon Knapen said. The measures will lead to savings of about 400 million euros starting in the second half of this year.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aXLX2vceydYM&refer=europe

[liberalmuse]

1. Yep, we got the memo today.

I'm glad our division wasn't affected, but I"m very sad at the job losses. It is hitting everyone.

[Dr.Phool]

2. The whole goddamned world is unraveling.

I remember being laid off in severe recessions before, but never anything like this. Hell, back in'71 I was laid off at 2 fortune 500 companies at the same time (Republic Steel and Ford).

I know it's worse this time, but the spread of information is so much faster now, that it just seems like a landslide.