Boston Scientific to cut 2,300 jobs

Ireland is likely to escape the worst of the job cuts announced by medical devices group Boston Scientific.

A total of 2,300 posts - or about 13 per cent of the company's 18,000 global workforce - are expected to go in an exercise the group hopes will save up to $575 million (€404 million) by 2009.

However, the bulk of the jobs will go from non-manufacturing operations, predominantly in the United States. The bulk of the company's 5,000 employees in Ireland are engaged in manufacturing. While a spokeswoman for the company said no specific decision had been made on the location of job cuts, "there will be very little on the Irish side".

The latest job cuts do not include employees in the fluid business - including a plant in Tullamore, Co Offaly - which has already been earmarked for sale.

The company posted a better-than-expected third-quarter operating profit yesterday as cost-cutting helped results, and its shares rebounded 6.3 per cent.

Boston Scientific, which is struggling to pay down more than $8 billion in debt related to acquisitions such as Guidant, said it earned 20 US cents per share, excluding charges related to acquisitions, divestitures and other items, beating the market consensus by four cents.

It posted a third-quarter net loss of $272 million, or 18 cents per share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $76 million, or five cents per share.

Chief executive Jim Tobin said the company exited the quarter in good shape. "The fundamentals of this market remain strong and I'm optimistic that we'll see continued improvement and sequential gains next quarter and into 2008," he said. - (Additional reporting, Reuters)