Agilent Post Results, Cuts 4,000 Jobs

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today reported orders of $1.3 billion and revenue of $1.8 billion for the quarter ended July 31. On an earnings before goodwill basis, the company lost 24 cents per share versus the consensus estimate of a 35-cent-per-share loss. These results represent continuing operations, excluding Agilent's recently sold healthcare business. The company said that third-quarter orders for its communications and semiconductor products continued to be very weak, reflecting the severe slowdown that has plagued these industries in recent months. In addition to expense reduction actions that Agilent has already taken, the company announced that it will reduce its workforce by approximately 4,000 people, or about 9 percent, by the middle of next year in order to restore the company to profitability as soon as possible. "Based on our outlook earlier in the year, we implemented a variety of aggressive cost-control measures -- including a temporary 10-percent pay cut -- to try to avoid layoffs," said Ned Barnholt, Agilent president and CEO. "The measures to date have had a positive impact, but the business environment in our key industries continued to deteriorate this quarter. And the outlook going forward is for a slow and gradual recovery. We are now taking additional actions to bring the size of our workforce more in line with anticipated business levels." Agilent Technologies Inc.