France's Parrot to cut 290 jobs as drone sales miss expectations
09/01/2017 19:17
Jan 9 (Reuters) - French technology company Parrot
PARRO.PA said on Monday it would cut around 290 jobs
worldwide, as the company failed to meet its fourth quarter
revenue target due to disappointing results in its core drones
business.
The company, which has been hit by pricing pressure in the
consumer drones market, announced revenue of 85 million euros
($89.8 million) for the fourth quarter of 2016, below the target
of 100 million it set in November.
"The commercial performance for consumer drones in the
fourth quarter was achieved based on margins that would be
insufficient to deliver profitable growth for this business over
the medium and long term," the company said in a statement.
The reorganisation of the company's drones business will
lead to 150 redundancies in France. The restructuring will
result in a cost of around 45 million euros, including 20
million euros of asset writedowns, the company said.
Parrot, which also produces hands-free communication and
entertainment kits for cars, saw its shares jump 10 percent in
December after it announced talks with Faurecia EPED.PA which
would allow the automotive equipment supplier to take a 20
percent stake in Parrot Automotive, based on an enterprise value
of 100 million euros urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1E21KD.
The company said on Monday that bearing in mind the prospect
of Faurecia investing in its automotive unit it is still in a
"healthy financial position," and targets growth of around 10
percent for its drones and automotive businesses in 2017.
($1 = 0.9466 euros)
(Reporting by Alan Charlish in Gdynia; Editing by Adrian Croft)
((alan.charlish@thomsonreuters.com; +48 58 772 0920;))