Alcatel axes thousands more

FRENCH telecoms equipment giant Alcatel is to axe another 10,000 to 13,000 jobs worldwide. Added to the 26,000 cuts already planned, the new redundancies will slash the workforce to 60,000 by the end of next year from 99,000 at the start of this year.

The shares rallied more than 12% to e2.82 as investors took heart from the fresh impetus to the cost-cutting drive. Alcatel said it was too early to say whether there would be further job losses in Britain. The cables operation in Greenwich and Optronics plant in Scotland are already being pared.

Alcatel will book additional provisions of e500m (£317m) over the next three quarters. It blamed the new cuts on a further slide in demand for telecoms equipment and said second-half sales will be down 10% on the first half.