Australia safe from Océ job cuts

600 Océ employees will lose their jobs as a result of tumbling second quarter profits, but no cuts will be made to staff from Australia.

Océ reported a 68 per cent decline in second quarter profits, falling from 18.3 million Euro ($AU30 million) down to 5.5 million Euro ($AU9 million). As a result, it is now embarking on cutting costs of 50 million Euro ($AU82 million) to restore itself.

The drop was attributed to an economic slowdown in the US, which is now beginning to spread throughout Europe and the UK.

"Like other parts of Océ's business across Europe, UK customers in certain sectors of the economy are currently going through a challenging time and we are not immune from the effects this could have on our business," said Bron Curley, managing director of Océ UK.

Servio Notermans, managing director of Océ Australia said that local employees were not directly affected by these circumstances.
"There will not be any jobs losses here in Australia because of the European and UK economic situation," he said.

"Australia is headed in the right direction."

Notermans hopes that locally, the situation overseas might inspire staff to continue strong sales.

"Now it's up to the Aussies and Kiwis to help our brothers-in-arms with extra profit and revenue," he said.