12/1/2004
Today, Bombardier Inc. announced plans to further reduce its transportation division workforce.
Although Bombardier Transportation continues to post positive earnings — the company just released third-quarter financial results — managers aren’t satisfied with the division’s performance compared with market expectations, according to a prepared statement.
In March, Bombardier officials announced plans to restructure the transportation division to address excess capacity in industrial operations, improve performance and increase earnings by cutting 6,600 positions and closing seven production facilities. Today, the company announced it soon will eliminate an additional 2,200 jobs and extend its original restructuring plan, increasing total net workforce reductions by 7,600 positions — 21 percent of the division’s workforce — by April 2006.
During the third quarter, Bombardier Transportation obtained revenue of $1.9 billion and earnings before taxes and special items of $79 million compared with $1.7 billion and $82 million, respectively, in third-quarter 2003. The division posted an order backlog of $22 billion compared with $23.7 billion at the beginning of the fiscal year.
