Agilent to lay off 2700 staff

Agilent said that a restructuring of its electronic measurement business would cost $160million but would reduce annual costs by $300m. It also expects a further $10m in cost cutting in its semiconductor and board test segment from the job cuts. The company said that it anticipate fiscal 2009 revenue in its electronic measurement business to fall roughly 30% from 2008 to the lowest in its 10 year history. Agilent also warned that revenue in its semiconductor and board test segment would be down more than 50% from last year and 65% from its peak. The move marks the company's third round of layoffs since December. Agilent's Chief financial officer, Adrian Dillon, said that the company is uncertain when big purchasers of its equipment will begin spending again. Dillon said: "We don't expect this either to be a short downturn or a V type recovery. We don't expect to see 2008 levels of revenue again for one to tree years, so we have no choice but to reset." Bill Sullivan, Agilent's president and chief executive officer, added: "We have been very aggressive to date in addressing the downturn in electronic measurement markets. However, business remains severely depressed and there are no prospects for a meaningful recovery in the foreseeable future. Therefore, we have no choice but to resize our electronic measurement businesses for the realities of the marketplace. For Agilent to realise its full potential, we must have a financially healthy company and a solidly profitable electronic measurement business. We will move quickly to resize the EM businesses to the new business levels, align resources to the best market opportunities, and position the company for the new economic environment." Approximately 40% of the job losses will be in Europe, 40% in the US and 20% in Asia.