Swedish appliance maker Electrolux AB on Wednesday reported a 22 percent drop in fourth-quarter net profit, partly on the back of costs related to the closure of factories, and said it would cut around 400 jobs within its appliances unit in 2008. The Stockholm-based company said the savings program, aimed at saving between 350 million kronor and 400 million kronor (¤37.2 million-¤42.5 million; US$54.64 million-US$62.42 million) a year, will cost about 400 million kronor (¤42.5 million; US$62.42 million) to implement and will be booked in the first quarter. Electrolux, whose brands include Frigidaire refrigerators and Eureka vacuum cleaners, also said that providing the demand for appliances in Europe continues to show slow growth and the appliance market in North America stays weak, it expects its 2008 operating income to be the same as in 2007. Net profit for the three-month period came to 1.13 billion kronor (¤120 million; US$176 million) compared with 1.44 billion kronor in the same quarter the year before. The company blamed most of the decline on the cost of closing its stove plants in Britain and Denmark. For the full year 2007, Electrolux posted a net profit of 2.93 billion kronor (¤312 million; US$458 million), down sharply from 3.85 billion kronor in 2006. Fourth-quarter sales reached 27.64 billion kronor (¤2.94 billion; US$4.32 billion), somewhat below the year-earlier result of 27.89 billion, the Associated Press reported.
