Syngenta to Cut 1,800 Jobs to Improve Cost Base

As part of a program announced in February to save $1 billion annually by 2018, Swiss agrochemicals giant Syngenta plans to cut or relocate 1,800 jobs to improve its cost base in high-priced countries such as Switzerland.

Around 500 of the affected jobs are at group headquarters in Basel. Alongside Switzerland, Syngenta has bases in the UK, US, China and India.

The workforce reduction of around 6% of total staffing is planned to take place mainly in 2015 and involve sales, research and manufacturing. About $265 million savings are expected next year.

CEO Mike Mack integrated the Swiss group's seeds and crop chemicals along crop lines in 2011 and the cuts just announced are said to be partly an extension of that move as management and marketing structures are streamlined.

Syngenta said $115 million of the targeted savings for next year will come from a simplified marketing structure, $50 million from consolidating research and $100 million from measures such as moving some activities to lower-cost locations.

With an EBITDA margin of 19.6% in 2013. Syngenta's profitability lags that of Monsanto (22.5%) and Bayer CropScience (25.5%). Its share price has also underperformed that of its competitors, falling 9.2% across 2014.

According to unconfirmed reports, the Swiss group was the target of a takeover approach by Monsanto that was abandoned earlier this year.