AstraZeneca to shed 15,000 jobs

Announcing its 2008 financial results, the company said it had revised estimates for its original 2007 restructuring programme which involved 7,600 job reductions and the programme would now be “delivering a reduction of approximately 15,000 positions by 2013”. The company did not say where the cuts would fall. It operates in over 100 countries with its corporate office in London and major R&D sites in Sweden, the UK and the US. There are 67,000 employees – 55% of them in Europe, 30% in the Americas and 15% in Asia, Africa and Australasia. Astra Zeneca said the new initiatives extended the scope of its restructuring programme to sustain long-term competitiveness. When fully implemented annual benefits were anticipated to reach $2.5 billion, up from $1.4 billion. Group sales for the full year increased by seven per cent from £29.6 billion to $31.6 billion while pre-tax profit was 9 per cent up at $8.7 billion (2007: $8bn), the company reported. CEO David Brennan (pictured) said: "AstraZeneca has delivered a robust performance in an increasingly challenging market environment. I am particularly pleased with our continued success in globalising our business, as shown by our strong performance in Emerging Markets. We are also making good headway in further improving the efficiency of our organisation. The expansion in the scope of our restructuring efforts is another important step towards sustaining our long-term competitiveness." In terms of R&D, Astra Zeneca said it had four important projects awaiting registration: MedImmune for the prevention of serious respiratory disease; Onglyzatm, a new diabetes compound; Seroquel XR for depression; and Iressa, a lung cancer treatment.