Digital Equipment Corp head of European operations, Vincenzo Damiani, told Reuters yesterday that it expects 5,000 to 6,000 job cuts in Europe this year as part of its continuing efforts to restore its loss-making business. The the precise numbers will be announced at the end of February or early March. It currently employs around 29,000 people in Europe and the cuts would be made over the 12- to 18-month period from January 1 1994. The company employed 93,000 worldwide as of July 28 1993. When Damiani took up his post on January 1, job reductions of 3,000 had already been mooted, but he was seen as a determined cost-cutter, and has already identified further cuts that need to be made. Damiani said he expected his group to return to revenue growth in dollar terms in the second half of calendar 1994. I am pretty optimistic about the fact that in the third and fourth quarters of our fiscal year, which happens to be the first half of this (calendar) year, we will be able to stabilise our revenue, he said. In Digital’s fiscal year to July 28 1993, the European units saw turnover of $6,970m out of the company’s total of $14,370m. Damiani said the company saw a new focus in niche markets such as medium and small businesses – 50 to 900 people, an area where DEC has not been active.
