Ericsson is planning to cut employment of around 400 persons until Q1 2021 for the acquired Kathrein antenna and filter business.
Ericsson said restructuring charges of SEK 0.5 billion are expected for 2020, with anticipated annual run rate savings of SEK 0.3 billion.
Ericsson has already reduced its employees globally to 99,095 in March 2020 from 99,417 in December 2019. Ericsson’s India employee base touched 24,942 in March 2020 from 24,559 in December 2019.
Kathrein’s antenna and filters division had around 4,000 skilled professionals, according to Ericsson’s website. Revenues from the acquired part of Kathrein were approximately EUR 270 million in 2018, excluding sales to Ericsson.
Kathrein, with headquarters in Rosenheim, Germany, founded in 1919, is a leading provider of antenna and filter technologies and is an existing Ericsson supplier. The antenna and filters business has a strong R&D organization with experience in antenna design and research.
Focus will be on offering a broad portfolio, demonstrating the strength of offering combined antenna and radio solutions. Improving profitability and cost control are key to achieve a competitive offering and an internal efficiency program was launched on April 21, Ericsson said.
“Strengthening our in-house antenna competence is another important step in our Networks portfolio strategy. The acquisition of Kathrein’s antenna and filters business will expand our capabilities and competences in the active and passive antenna domain,” Fredrik Jejdling, head of Business Area Networks, Ericsson, said earlier.
The acquisition includes Kathrein’s antenna and filter business for mobile networks and will add around 4,000 highly-skilled professionals in R&D, production, and sales based in more than 20 locations, including Germany, Romania, the U.S., Mexico and China.
Approximately 85,000 of the total workforce are working from home using collaboration tools during the coronavirus crisis, Ericsson said.
Ericsson reported sale of SEK 49.8 billion and net income of SEK 2.3 billion during the first quarter of 2019.
Ericsson has also maintained its revenue and profit targets for the year 2020 and 2021 despite the spread of coronavirus epidemic.
