“Océ -Australia is playing its part in optimising the financial performance of Océ with continued growth across all business segments,” said Océ-Australia’s financial controller, Laurence Meehan. “The cost reduction program currently being implemented across Océ was announced earlier this year, including a reduction in employee numbers within the global organisation.”

This week, the Netherlands-headquartered company posted a third-quarter pre-tax loss of €11.2m (AU$19.8m) – down from a profit of €21.2m (AU$37.4m) the previous year – attributed largely to restructuring expenses incurred after the disposal of the coating activities of US subsidiary Arkwright.

Océ chairman Rokus van Iperen said the company was meeting the challenging economy through added value products and “aggressive” cost-cutting, which will take €80m (AU$141.3m) out of the company’s budget in 2008, and a further €50m (AU$88.3m) in 2009.

He added: “The financial services and construction markets are experiencing well-publicised challenges. These developments are significantly impacting revenues from our continuous feed printers and technical document systems – the main cause of our decline in profitability.”

Related news: Oce appoints two new resellers

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