Sandvik to cut around 2,000 jobs in the face of early signs of slowing market demand

Swedish engineering group 460 Sandvik, whose Mining & Rock Technology division includes aggregates processing plant and linked technology solutions, is to cut around 2,000 jobs to buttress profitability in the face of early signs of slowing market demand.

Sandvik said it had seen weaker demand in parts of its business, primarily from customers in the automotive and general engineering sectors, towards the end of Q2 2019.

“We will take further action in all business areas to deliver strong margins long-term,” Sandvik president and CEO Björn Rosengren said in a statement reported by 6393 Reuters news agency. “These activities will be promptly implemented and include a personnel reduction of approximately 2,000.”

Sandvik operating earnings edged up to 5.08 billion Swedish krona (€475.53mn) from 5.04 billion krona (€475.15mn) in the year-ago quarter, but came in below the 5.18 billion krona mean forecast in a poll of analysts based on Refinitiv data.

Sandvik said the results had also been boosted to the tune of 110 million krona (€10.45mn) due to an adjustment of the purchase price of a previously announced sale of one of its smaller businesses.

The company’s order bookings fell 5% on a like-for-like basis, compared with the 6% growth reported for the first quarter of the year.