Slovenia’s Iskra Avtoelektrika To Lay off 200 by Year's End - Media

The orders have been decreasing and the company is forced to cut costs, particularly labour costs, STA quoted Iskra Avtoelektrika board member Tadej Vidic as saying.

In November about 100 people lost their jobs and another 100 face dismissal in December, Vidic said.

"We are not considering any layoffs of regular employees as we still have some 150 workers with fixed-term contracts," he said, adding that the total number of dismissals depended on the company's business results in the first quarter of 2009.

Sales in the first quarter of 2009 are expected to drop by a quarter, while revenue is expected to decrease by 6.0% year-on-year, Vidic said.

Iskra Avtoelektrika reported a 19% rise in group net profit to 5.08 million euro ($6.5 million) in the first nine months of 2008, as sales also increased. Group sales through September rose by 16.5% on the year to 205.4 million euro.

($ = 0.7831 euro)