COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Sweden’s Husqvarna, which makes garden equipment and tools, said on Wednesday it would further cut costs due to constrained consumer spending, a move that will impact around 400 jobs and result in savings of around 500 million crowns ($47.4 million) annually.
Husqvarna benefited from the home improvement trend during the pandemic but demand softened last year as high inflation took a toll on consumer spending.
“To address the challenging market, we are reducing fixed costs and continuing to invest in our long-term strategy to strengthen Husqvarna Group’s competitiveness,” CEO Pavel Hajman said in a statement.
Husqvarna said it estimated non-recurring costs associated with the new measures of 600 million crowns, which will be recognised in the fourth quarter, and said the majority of the savings from its new measures would be realised in 2025.
In October 2022, the group had said it would cut 1,000 jobs as part of a restructuring that included shifting investment to robotic mowers, batteries, watering solutions and professional products and away from its low-margin petrol-powered products.
A year later, it announced another 300 job cuts after people prioritising travel over time at home and a seasonal slowdown sapped demand across the sector.
The group’s average number of employees was 13,424 as of Sept. 30, according to its third-quarter earnings report. ($1 = 10.5419 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Stine Jacobsen and Savio D’Souza)
