Quebecor World Inc., the world's largest printer and biggest user of the U.S. postal system by volume, announced 1,000 job cuts yesterday and reported a second-quarter loss as the North American print market continues to lag.
The Montreal-based printer said it lost $62 million in the second quarter of 2003. Part of the loss resulted from $82 million in charges due to the restructuring, impairment of assets and other costs.
The cutbacks are expected to bring the company an annual pre-tax savings of $36 million, Quebecor said. In a statement, Quebecor president/CEO Jean Neneu said the cuts were made because a series of cost reductions undertaken in fourth-quarter 2002 proved insufficient.
Part of the costs incurred by Quebecor in the quarter involved the write-down of underused facilities, the company said. According to Neveu's statement, the write-down will not reduce Quebecor's production capacity because of earlier efforts to shift to more specialized and efficient facilities.
According to the company, it employs 38,000 people in 160 facilities worldwide.
