Net losses at AvtoVAZ, Russia’s largest domestic carmaker, are projected to have widened year on year in 2009 and the company plans to cut costs by shedding 5,000 jobs in the next two months, company president Igor Komarov said.
He did not provide specific figures but said that the company expected to post “a significant loss” for 2009 which was expected to be bigger than in 2008 and in January–September 2009.
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In 2008, AvtoVAZ posted a RUB6.684bn (US$22m) net loss under Russian accounting standards (RAS) and a net loss of RUB24.662bn, as calculated under international financial reporting standards (IFRS).
Komarov said this year the company planned to post a zero operating profit and swing to a positive EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation, of RUB4.5bn.
He added that AvtoVAZ planned to sell about 400,000 cars on the domestic market in 2010 and export around 50,000.
AvtoVAZ sold 349,490 Lada brand cars in Russia in 2009, down 44% on the year, according to the Association of European Businesses
Komarov said the company’s workforce in Togliatti would be cut from 77,000 to around 72,000 by the end of March. It has already been cut from 102,000 since last June.
