Substantial reductions in employment were achieved last year by IBM Deutschland GmbH through early retirement and attrition, but the process is not complete yet. IBM’s West German subsidiary says that 1,200 jobs were cut last year, and that another 500 will go in production this year, although the cuts will be offset to some extent by additional hirings in software and service and in 1M-bit memory chip production as the company invests heavily for the future. Capital investment will rise about 25% this year from the $700m equivalent invested last year. Net profit last year rose 5.2% to $328m on turnover down 3.9% at $7,980m. The dividend paid to IBM Corp fell 44% to $240m.
