This is AstraZeneca's third restructuring programme since 2007
Anglo-Swedish drugs maker AstraZeneca has announced a further 7,300 job
cuts over the next two years as part of a new restructuring programme. The GMB Union has said 250 to 300 of the cuts will be in R&D at the
firm's site in Alderley Park, Cheshire. It also said there would be unspecified back office cuts at other UK sites.
AstraZeneca announced a fall in pre-tax profits for the three months to the
end of December to $2.05bn (£1.32bn) compared with $2.28bn in 2010. The UK's second-largest drugs firm has 61,000 staff globally of which 8,000
are in the UK.
It has sites around the UK at Alderley Park, Macclesfield, Avlon near Bristol, Brixham in Devon, and London, and employs staff through affiliated companies in Liverpool, Cambridge and Luton.
It has sites around the UK at Alderley Park, Macclesfield, Avlon near Bristol, Brixham in Devon, and London, and employs staff through affiliated companies in Liverpool, Cambridge and Luton.
The Alderley Park site is the company's largest, employing about 3,000
people.
Restructuring
The latest cuts are part of the third restructuring programme the company
has carried out since 2007, and is designed to save $1.6bn a year by 2014. In its first round of restructuring AstraZeneca cut 12,600 positions
between 2007 and 2009. It began a second programme in 2010, which the firm said would lead to the
loss of 9,000 jobs by 2012.
The GMB union said shedding R&D jobs would damage the UK economy. "These cutting edge R&D [research and development] jobs are both
well paid and essential for a thriving UK economy," said Allan Black from
the GMB.
Competition
AstraZeneca blamed increased competition for the fall in fourth quarter
profits. "Disciplined execution of our strategy has delivered a good
performance in 2011, in the face of intensified pricing pressure and generic
competition," said chief executive David Brennan. "While the further expected losses of market exclusivity make for a
challenging 2012 outlook, we remain committed to a long-term, focused, R&D
based strategy and today have announced further steps to drive productivity in
all areas," he added.
The company is also facing the loss of patents on some of its products and
has not yet released alternative money earners.
"That's really why AstraZeneca are in the position there are now, they
don't see anything coming through soon enough to have an impact," said David
Phillps from the Royal Society of Chemistry.
"It's a fact that the easy targets, in the body, for the production of
drugs have, essentially, all been used up," he added. AstraZeneca also said it would begin a $4.5bn share buy-back scheme and
increase its dividend by 10%.