European companies cut jobs as economy sputters

Decades-high inflation and the impact of war in Ukraine have forced companies across Europe into lay-offs or hiring freezes.

Here are some of the companies that have announced cuts since January:

Autos

• Volvo: the Swedish group said in March it would restructure its European bus-making operation, leading to a reduction of 1,600 jobs.
• Volvo Cars: the automaker on May 4 announced 1,300 additional layoffs in Sweden, 6 percent of the company’s workforce in its homecountry.
• Stellantis: the carmaker agreed with unions in February to cut up to 2,000 workers from its Italian operations through voluntary redundancies.

Food, retail and consumer goods

• Deliveroo: the British meal delivery company said on Feb. 9 it would cut around 9 percent of its workforce, or 350 roles.
• Fielmann:  the German glasses retailer said on March 3 it would slash hundreds of jobs by 2025. *
• Sainsbury’s: the British supermarket group plans to consolidate five existing Sainsbury’s and Argos general merchandise depots into three, closing two by 2026, in a move that will impact 1,400 workers, it said on Feb. 28.
• Zalando: the German online fashion retailer said on Feb. 21 it would cut hundreds of jobs across the company, citing over-expansion in some areas and a more difficult economic environment.

Industrials and engineering

• Kone: the Finnish elevator maker said on Jan. 26 it would reduce headcount by 1,000, including 150 in Finland.
• British Steel: the Chinese-owned company said on Feb. 22 it could cut up to 260 jobs after announcing the planned closure of its coke ovens in northern England.

Tech

• Ericsson: the telecom equipment maker will lay off 8,500 employees globally as part of its plan to cut costs, a memo seen by Reuters said.
• Logitech: the maker of keyboards, webcams and other computer accessories is laying off about 300 people in a global reorganization, Bloomberg News reported on March 22.
• Nokia: the Finnish telecom equipment maker said on May 3 it plans to cut up to 208 jobs in Finland.
• Philips: the Dutch medical equipment maker on Jan. 30 said it would cut 6,000 jobs to counter falling sales and after a massive recall of its respiratory machines.
• SAP: the German software company said on Jan. 26 it planned to shed 3,000 jobs, 2.5% of its global workforce, to cut costs and focus on its cloud business.
• Telecom Italia:  the group is seeking to cut as many as 2,000 jobs in Italy through a voluntary early retirement scheme, sources told Reuters in March.
• Vodafone:  the British telecoms giant said on May 16 it would cut 11,000 jobs over three years as it forecast a 1.5 billion euro drop in 2023 free cash flow.

Others

• BASF: the German chemicals maker said on Feb. 24 it would cut 2,600 jobs to improve competitiveness as it warned of a further decline in earnings due to rising costs.
• Deutsche Bank: Germany’s largest bank said on April 27 it would cut 800 jobs in an effort to reduce costs by an additional 500 million euros over the next few years.
• Evonik: the German specialty chemicals producer said on April 3 it would cut 200 jobs as part of restructuring of its pet food unit.
• Grifols: the Spanish pharmaceutical firm said on Feb. 15 it would lay off around 2,300 employees, or 8.5 percent of its global workforce, amid a strategy overhaul aimed at reaching annual savings of around 400 million euros.
• Taylor Wimpey: the British housebuilder said on Jan. 13 it was considering job cuts to keep a lid on costs, but did not specify the number of potential job cuts.

Source: Regulatory filings, Reuters stories and company websites

$1 = 10.4142 Swedish crowns; $1 = 0.9222 euros

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TAGS: companies, economy, Europe, layoffs