As announced on the occasion of the publication of the second quarter results, Agfa-Gevaert is planning an important reduction of its operational costs. The worldwide savings program has now been finalized. Its goal is to reduce the Group's operational costs by 120 million Euro before end of 2010. This savings program mainly concerns a reduction of the sales and general administration costs. Furthermore, Agfa-Gevaert will also realize savings in the field of costs of goods and services, to protect its gross margins in order to strengthen its competitive position. Next to the personnel related expenses, it also concerns non-personnel related expenses, such as infrastructure costs and costs related to the purchase of goods and services. The execution of the program is the responsibility of the three business groups (Graphics, HealthCare, Materials).
Regarding Agfa-Gevaert in Belgium, the members of the works councils were informed that the company will strive to reduce the operational costs in Belgium by 32 million Euro. Among other measures, the plan implies a reduction of about 300 jobs by end of 2010. This number includes the reduction already planned in anticipation of the volume decrease in the production of traditional film products.
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- Agfa HealthCare's Profile
About Agfa
The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world's leading imaging and information technology companies. Agfa develops, manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare) and specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials). Agfa's headquarters are in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries throughout the world. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 3,283 million Euro in 2007.
About Agfa HealthCare
Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading provider of IT-enabled clinical workflow and diagnostic image management solutions, and state-of-the-art systems for capturing and processing images in hospitals and healthcare facilities. Agfa HealthCare has over a century of healthcare experience related to diagnostic imaging and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990's. The HealthCare division has sales offices and agents in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2007 were 1,392 million Euro, accounting for 43% of total group sales. For more information on Agfa HealthCare, please visit www.agfa.com/healthcare.