Essen, Nov. 19, (dpa/GNA) – Germany’s Thyssenkrupp announced on Thursday that it would cut thousands more jobs than originally planned as the coronavirus crisis takes a toll on the already-struggling company.
Over the next three years, an additional 5,000 jobs are to be axed, the industrial and steel conglomerate said on presenting its balance sheet for the 2019/2020 fiscal year.
This comes on top of the 6,000 job cuts announced last year. The downsizing will now impact 11,000 positions in total, 3,600 of which are already gone.
“We are still not where we need to be. The next steps could be more painful than the previous ones. We will still have to take them,” said Thyssenkrupp chief executive Martina Merz.
She would not be drawn on whether compulsory redundancies would be necessary to shrink the group’s workforce.
Thyssenkrupp incurred heavy losses over the course of its fiscal year, ending September 30, particularly in its steel business. Earnings before interest and tax plunged to minus 1.6 billion euros, with the steel sector accounting for 946 million euros in losses.
In the previous fiscal year, Thyssenkrupp made a net loss of 110 million euros.
Revenue fell year on year by 15 per cent to 28.9 billion euros.
GNA