WS Atkins cuts 1,500 jobs

Wed 09 Sep, 2009 16:07

LONDON (Reuters) - Engineering consultancy WS Atkins has cut a further 1,500 jobs over the past few months to help cope with tough trading conditions, it said on Wednesday, as it announced plans to appoint a new chairman.

The firm, which provides architectural, design and construction services, said Allan Cook, retiring chief executive of aerospace and defence electronics group Cobham, would succeed Ed Wallis as chairman from February 1.

"Despite the challenging market conditions we are facing, overall the group's trading to date has been in line with our expectations and the outlook remains unchanged," it said in a statement from its annual shareholder meeting.

Group headcount was now around 16,500, it added. This compares with 18,017 as at March 31, according to the group's annual results in June.

Atkins, which has worked on projects as diverse as Dubai's seven star Burj Al Arab Hotel and Britain's Greenwich peninsula, had said it would continue reduce staff numbers to meet expected levels of demand.

Its shares, which have risen by a fifth in the last three months, closed up 1.8 percent at 662.5 pence, valuing the group at around 650 million pounds.

(Reporting by Mark Potter)