An Irish Bayer source this afternoon said there would be great surprise if the Irish plant at Swords which employs 200 was affected by the 1,800 job cuts announced by the German pharmaceutical giant.
'Within the past two to three years there has been a rationalisation of Bayer plants and the Irish one was chosen for investment and upgrading,' he said. 'We would be very surprised if the plant was affected,' he said.
The company also employs a 50 strong sales force here selling the full range of Bayer products which range from plastics, animal health products to industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Bayer announced today that it would cut 1,800 jobs and close 15 sites worldwide in an attempt to cut costs by up to 1.5bn euros each year by 2005.
The announcement comes a day after Bayer announced that it was pulling one its most promising drugs, the anti-cholesterol drug Lipobay, from the market after it was linked to deaths in the US. The withdrawal of Lipobay will compounds the company's decline in earnings.
Commenting on the withdrawal of Lipobay, the company chairman Manfred Schneider said: 'The economic consequences are very serious, but absolute priority for us is the safety and health of our patients. We're currently analysing the situation. We will draw the necessary consequences but acting overhastily won't bring us any further.'
Earlier today the German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant, which also makes aspirin, said it had sustained a decline in earnings in the first six months of the current year as a result of the economic downturn.
Bayer's net profit fell to 1.006 billion euros in the six months to June, a decline of 2.6% from the figure for the corresponding period a year earlier. Excluding exceptional items, operating profit fell by 23.3% to 1.491 billion euros, while sales rose by 7.7% to 15.618 billion euros.
'The development in profit was very disappointing,' said Schneider. He blamed it on 'temporary manufacturing problems in biological products, high raw material costs and weaker demand in key customer sectors, such as the car, electrical and construction industries.'
So far, 'the anticipated economic recovery has not materialised,' Schneider complained. Growth had weakened in Europe and Germany in the second quarter. And there was still no sign of a turnaround in the US.
'Against this background and in view of additional burdens and shortfall in earnings in the healthcare division arising from the stop in sales of the anti-cholesterol drug Lipobay, we expect full-year earnings to fall substantially short of our previous forecasts,' the chairman said.
