AstraZeneca axes another 7,300 jobs

Pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca has said it will axe 7,300 jobs by the end of 2014 as part of a fresh round of cost savings.
The company, which has 61,000 staff globally of whom 8,000 are in the UK, axed 12,600 positions between 2007 and 2009 and removed another 9,000 roles by the end of last year.
The company, which closed a site at Charnwood, near Loughborough, at the end of last year, said the latest restructuring was needed because of the weak economy and the impact of competition from generic drugs.
Its sites in the UK are at Alderley Park in Cheshire, Macclesfield, Cambridge, Luton, Avlon near Bristol, Paddington in London, and Brixham in Devon.
The company has not yet disclosed where the jobs will go, but Unite said between 250 and 300 jobs will be lost at the Cheshire site.
National officer Linda McCulloch said: “This is a blow to Britain’s research and development base and Unite will be doing everything possible to minimise compulsory redundancies. If the company can afford a 10% hike in its dividends then it can afford to retain these roles. These are cutting-edge jobs. AstraZeneca must do everything possible to retain these highly skilled and specialised roles. The UK cannot afford to lose these advanced, scientific skills.”
The jobs blow came as the company announced a 2% fall in revenues to 33.3 billion US dollars (£21.1 billion) in 2011, while profits fell 4% to 13.2 billion US dollars (£8.4 billion). It said generic competition as patents expire and intervention in pricing from central governments wiped three billion US dollars (£1.9 billion) from its revenues.
The company said revenues for 2012 are likely to be down by more than 10% while its margins will also be squeezed, leading to lower profits.
The Anglo-Swedish company has suffered a number of setbacks in its efforts to secure approval for new blockbuster drugs, and warned that the coming years would be “challenging for the industry and for the company”.
Despite the fresh cost-cutting measures, the Cheshire-based company announced a 10% hike in its dividend and plans to return an additional 4.5 billion US dollars (£2.9 billion) to shareholders in 2012 on top of the 9.4 billion US dollars (£6 billion) last year.