The computer and printer maker Hewlett Packard, which employs around 4,000 people in Ireland, has said it will cut 2% of its global workforce. That is equivalent to 6,400 jobs.
A statement from the company says that there is no indication as of yet of how HP Ireland will be impacted by the proposed cuts in its global workforce.
The HP statement said that the Irish business has 'performed in line with expectations to date and has achieved significant market share gains against its competitors in the Irish market'.
It also said that the company is well advanced in its recruitment plans for 500 new positions as its expands its global service desk operation in Leixlip, Co Kildare.
News of today's global job losses come on top of an earlier announcement to shed more than 24,000 jobs worldwide. This resulted in more than 100 jobs being lost from its Irish manufacturing operations.
Last night Hewlett-Packard reported a 17% fall in quarterly net profit. HP's net profit fell to $1.7 billion, or 86 cents per share, in the second quarter of its fiscal year from $2.1 billion, or 87 cents per share, a year ago. This was in line with the expectations of Wall Street analysts.
The California-based company, the world's largest manufacturer of personal computers, said revenue was down 3% in the quarter which ended on April 30 to $27.4 billion.
Chief financial officer Cathy Lesjak announced the planned layoffs in a conference call with analysts after the release of the company's results.
'We will be taking some targeted action to structurally change and improve the effectiveness of our product businesses,' she said.
'These actions will result in the elimination of approximately 2% of the HP workforce as we further streamline and simplify our organisation and supply chain. These actions will be implemented over the next 12 months,' she added.
The only bright spot for HP in the quarter was in its services business, which notched up an operating profit of $1.17 billion in the quarter due to its purchase last year of EDS.
'Our services business continued to deliver strong profitability with an increased deal pipeline and the EDS integration tracking ahead of schedule,' said HP chairman and CEO Mark Hurd.
HP said revenue from its enterprise storage and servers division fell 28% to $3.5 billion while software revenue declined 15% to $880m. Computer shipments were flat in a 'challenging environment' and the division saw revenue fall 19% to $8.2 billion dollars.
Revenue from laptop computers was down 13% while desktop computer revenue fell 24%. Operating profit for the division fell to $374m from $544m a year ago.
The imaging and printing group saw revenue decline by 23% to $5.9 billion and operating profit fall to $1.1 billion from $1.2 billion a year earlier.
HP said revenue grew 9% in the Americas to $12.1 billion and declined by 11% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to $10.6 billion. Revenue fell 10% in Asia Pacific to $4.7 billion.
HP said it expects third quarter revenue to be flat and full fiscal year revenue to decline by 4-5% with full-year earnings per share of between $3.76-3.88.
