Finland's Wartsila to slash 550 jobs globally due to poor profitability

Finnish power and marine technology company Wartsila announced on Thursday it plans to cut 550 jobs globally, half of which will be in Finland.

The move will mainly affect its employees working in its business units of Marine Solutions and Energy Solutions, said the company.

The company said the layoffs will help the company save 50 million euros(56.46 million U.S. dollars) annually.

The direct cause of the redundancy is the poor profitability in the first quarter this year.

On Thursday, Wartsila published its interim report for the first quarter of 2016. The group's turnover declined by 2 percent to 967 million euros compared with the same period of 2015, and its operating profits dropped rapidly by 16 percent to 84 million euros.

Wartsila attributed its poor profitability to weak market demand and global competition.

Currently, Wartsila's Marine Solutions employs 6,681 people and Energy Solutions has 958 employees globally.

Founded in 1834 and headquartered in Helsinki, Wartsila operates in about 70 countries and hires approximately 18,800 workers around the world.

In July 2015, the company announced it would cut 600 jobs worldwide, of which 160 in Finland, as a result of the restructuring of its Ship Power business (renamed as Marine Solutions) in response to the sluggish global market.