DEC continues to haemorrhage red ink as it attempts to reposition itself in the open system market. Hinting at further job cuts, DEC reported a third quarter loss of $294m on turnover down 8% to $3,253m. John F Smith, senior vice president for operations, said the company will reinstate a programme of layoffs in May that may cut deeper than the 10,000 cuts already pencilled in for fiscal year end. He declined to say how many people would be affected. He did say that a previously reported early retirement program was running ahead of expectations more than 7,000 people are eligible for the programme, Digital’s first. Smith also said the effect of unfavourable currency translations for foreign sales cut revenue by $150m to $200m. He added that third quarter revenues fell about 17% in Europe and about 10% in the United States compared with the year-ago quarter. The revenue shortfall was due in part, to the persistent worldwide economic slowdown especially in Europe and Japan, the negative impact of currency movements and pricing pressure.
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