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Agilent to cut 450 jobs worldwide

Agilent Technologies (A) reported flat net revenues and a 35% year-over-year drop in net income for its second fiscal quarter ending April 30, and announced a restructuring program that will result in 450 eliminated positions.

That figure reflects a cut of about 2% to Agilent’s global workforce. The company has more than 20,000 employees in 100 countries. The change is expected to generate $50 million in annual operating expense savings.

Agilent had net income of $166 million for the quarter, compared to $255 million a year ago. Net revenue was flat at about $1.73 billion, and Agilent said orders had dropped by 8% from the year-ago period to $169 billion. However, after accounting for several factors including restructuring costs, a tax benefit and acquisition and integration costs, Agilent said its adjusted net income for the quarter was $269 million – much more in line with the previous year’s quarter.

Electronic measurement, including the company’s telecom test and measurement business, was down 13% year-over-year with operating margins of 21%. Agilent said that there was “particular weakness in wireless manufacturing.” Agilent also operates in chemical analysis, diagnostics and genomics, among other markets.

Agilent CEO Bill Sullivan said that the company expects the macroeconomic environment to remain “challenging” for the rest of 2013. Agilent estimated that its fiscal third quarter revenues will be between $1.63 billion to $1.66 billion, with full-year revenues projects to be in the range of $6.75 billion to $6.85 billion.

ABOUT AUTHOR

Kelly Hill
Kelly Hill
Kelly reports on network test and measurement, as well as the use of big data and analytics. She first covered the wireless industry for RCR Wireless News in 2005, focusing on carriers and mobile virtual network operators, then took a few years’ hiatus and returned to RCR Wireless News to write about heterogeneous networks and network infrastructure. Kelly is an Ohio native with a masters degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where she focused on science writing and multimedia. She has written for the San Francisco Chronicle, The Oregonian and The Canton Repository. Follow her on Twitter: @khillrcr