Office equipment company Xerox which emplys over 2,000 in Dundalk today reported a second-quarter net loss of $281 million and warned of further weakness.
Xerox has lost ground in recent years from tough competition and its own operational blunders, and this year it has struggled to put behind it concerns about accounting practices and charges of discrimination by some employees.
With a goal of turning a profit for the full year, the company has reorganized its operations, cut staff and trimmed spending, including suspending its quarterly dividend for the first time in 53 years.
Xerox president and chief operating officer Ms Anne Mulcahy said customers are delaying purchasing decisions because of the weakened economy.
"We continue to expect a return to profitability in the second half of 2001," she said, "but the economic environment and normal third-quarter seasonality will likely delay this to the fourth quarter."
Ms Mulcahy said Xerox is ahead of schedule in meeting its target of cutting $1 billion in costs, having achieved 75 per cent of the goal, including the reduction of 8,600 jobs worldwide since September.
Xerox shares closed at $7.99, off 21 cents, yesterday. Since June 14th, when the company announced its plans to exit the low-end consumer printer and copier market, the stock has fallen about 3 per cent, but still outperformed the Standard and Poor's 500 index, which has fallen 4 per cent.