Vodafone Planning "Hundreds" of UK Job Cuts

Vodafone is reported to be about to announce several hundred job cuts in its UK division on Tuesday. The report was carried by Bloomberg News who cited two people with direct knowledge of the plans who did not want to be identified.

The UK division has under performed the rest of its European operations, having turned in a margin on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 23.2 percent in the six months ended Sept. 30. In Germany, Vodafone's biggest market, the margin was 44 percent and in Italy 44.9 percent.

Vodafone Chief Executive Officer, Vittorio Colao warned earlier this month that there could be some job cuts as part of a company wide plan to reduce costs by an annualized 1 billion pounds by 2011. The company had approximately 72,000 staff worldwide at the end of June 2008, the most recent figure available from their Investor service.

Simon Gordon, a Vodafone spokesman, declined to comment.

On the web: Bloomberg News

Posted to the site on 22nd February 2009