IAR Ghimbav to lay off 220 workers

At the end of last week, shareholders of IAR Ghimbav decided to proceed with the second stage of the program for the restructuring of the company, which according to the leader of the union of the Ghimbav platform, "will also be done in two steps". The first step of the second stage will entail the layoff of 220 employees starting with April 1st. "The fact that the assembly hangar will remain our property instead of being sold off to Eurocopter Romania, will allows us to limit the number of layoffs and to keep a core number of 330 employees", the union leader said. The second step, which will entail a number of layoffs which is unknown for now, will only occur if the assembly hangar is sold off.

The agenda of the next Shareholders" Meeting which has been scheduled for the end of April, will include the approval of the Revenue and Expenses Budget for 2010 and of the company"s financial results for 2009.

Helicopter maker IAR Ghimbav, made a profit of 2.2 million lei in 2009, down 52.3% over 2008. The company"s turnover was 141.3 million lei in 2009, down 30.6%, over 2008, when its revenues amounted to 203.7 million lei. The company"s total revenues dropped 35.6%, from 162 million lei to 104.3 million lei, and the expenses decreased around 35%, from 156.4 million lei to 101.8 million lei, according to the press release sent to the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

For 2010, IAR Ghimbav estimates a profit of 424,000 lei, according to the company"s revenue and expense budget, published on the website of the Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Business Environment. The aircraft has budgeted 45.3 million lei in revenues and 44.7 million lei in expenses.