Copyright © HT Media Limited
All rights reserved.
Car parts maker Kongsberg Automotive has terminated or furloughed two-thirds of employees in recent weeks as demand plunged amid a coronavirus pandemic, cutting full-time staff by about 7,000 people, the firm said on Friday.
The company, headquartered in Zurich and listed in Oslo, plans to raise about 100 million euros ($108.4 million) in stocks and convertible bonds and has secured extra bank funding of 20 million euros, it added.
In the last full week of March, revenues declined by more than half as auto and truck makers halted or limited production, and the fall in demand is still building, it said.
"It is unknown and impossible to accurately estimate when, whether or to what extent, the end-user vehicle demand will return to previous levels," the company said in a statement. "The likelihood of a downcycle seems high."
Global headcount is now less than 3,900 people, down from 10,900 full-time employees at plants in Europe, Asia and North America at the start of the year, Kongsberg Automotive said.
"Due to the considerable uncertainties regarding the course and duration of the corona pandemic, we cannot provide an updated outlook for 2020 for the time being," it added.