Sanofi-aventis to cut jobs

Sanofi-aventis is planning to cut around 500 jobs in an attempt to compensate for sluggish growth within France, AFX News has said.

The news agency states that information regarding the lowering number of jobs in France has come from labour union sources reported in Les Echos, the daily French financial newspaper.

It reports: “No compulsory redundancies are expected and the company will offer early retirement and voluntary departure schemes.”

In the second quarter of 2006, Sanofi-aventis saw sales growth of 5.9 per cent on a reported basis and 4.1 per cent on a comparable basis, with sales increasing to 7,081 million euros.

“In Europe, net sales were up 0.2 per cent, with growth adversely affected by healthcare system reforms in France and Germany,” the company reported in August.

Sanofi-aventis is the third-largest pharmaceutical company in the world and the lartgest in France and Europe, operating in seven therapeutic areas. It has around 100,000 employees worldwide.

Earlier this month Sanofi-aventis sold its entire stake in Rhodia to BNP Paribas for 183 million euros.

The company will announce its third quarter sales and earnings on October 31st.