Recent Global Market News
Nissan to cut 20,000 global jobs
Nissan is to cut 20,000 jobs worldwide, 8.5% of its workforce, over the next year because of a sharp fall in sales. The Japanese carmaker made the announcement as it said it expected to make a loss of 265bn yen ($2.9bn; £2bn) for its current financial year. Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn said the the firm’s worst assumptions on the state of the global economy have been met or exceeded. The global auto industry is in turmoil. Nissan is no exception.
www.bbc.co.uk
Truckmaker Volvo cautious on 2009
The Swedish lorry maker AB Volvo has seen falling demand hit its fourth quarter earnings, and predicted a tricky year ahead in 2009. It reported an operating loss of 999m kronor ($120m; £81m) in the October to December period. We do not see a return of demand during the first half, Volvo chief executive Leif Johansson said. Volvo said demand in North America and Japan would remain weak in the first six months of the year. The global economic downturn has hit demand for heavy trucks, but analysts say Volvo remains in a relatively strong position. If you look to the tone of Leif Johansson’s comments, these are less panic-stricken than in Q3, Nordea analyst Johan Trocme said. If you look to cash flow it was stronger than expected and it is obviously the case that they feel they can pay out a dividend of two crowns [kronor] per share, which is a signal that they are not on the brink of a liquidity disaster.
www.bbc.co.uk
Kingfisher cuts pilots’ salaries by Rs 80,000
Moving quietly, private air-carrier, Kingfisher Airlines, has effected a Rs 80,000 cut in the salaries of all its pilots. Earlier, we were being paid a salary of Rs 4.30-lakh per month. Now it has been cut to Rs 3.50-lakh, all in the name of integration (with the erstwhile Deccan), a Kingfisher pilot said in Mumbai on condition of anonymity. The salary package is mainly based on the flying hours of about 70-hours, he said, adding that the whole package has been revised downwards in the name of bringing parity with the erstwhile Deccan pilots. Kingfisher’s management, while slashing the salaries, has taken the defence that it was only implementing the Deccan-Kingfisher package structure in Kingfisher post-the merger,’ the pilot said. The pay-cut, effective for sometime now, is understood to have given rise to resentment and heartburn in Kingfisher’s pilot community.
www.financialexpress.com
Warner Bros to outsource jobs to India
In a move that could ruffle a few feathers in the Barack Obama administration, American entertainment giant Warner Bros has said it will be outsourcing jobs to India. It is believed that about 200 positions are to be outsourced to India and Poland by Warner Bros, which will slash as many as ten per cent of its 8,000-strong workforce in the coming days. While no final decision have been made internationally, the company expects the layoffs, elimination of open positions and outsourcing to affect nearly 800 positions worldwide, or approximately ten per cent of its 8,000 employees, a Warner Bros official told PTI in an e-mailed statement. About 200 open positions and 300 outsourced jobs would be affected as part of the reduction, while another 300 employees would be laid-off, the official said, adding that jobs would be outsourced to India. While the spokesperson declined to comment on exact number of jobs being moved to India, the sources said that about 300 positions are being outsourced, out of which about 200 would go to India and Poland.
www.hindu.com
Job prospects in 2009 ‘alarming’
UK companies are shedding jobs at an ever-growing rate, says the Chartered Institute of Personnel (CIPD). Its research suggests more than one in three UK employers are planning to cut jobs in the first three months of 2009. This is twice as many as planned to make cuts during the final three months of 2008. These latest… figures suggest that job prospects are deteriorating at an alarming rate, said CIPD’s chief economist John Philpott.
A total of 36% of employers surveyed plan to cut staff in the first quarter of 2009, compared with the 27% that plan to take on additional staff. This is the first time that a higher proportion of employers plan to cut staff than hire them since the survey began in 2004.
www.bbc.co.uk
