Agilent reports revenues off 16%; company to cut 600 jobs worldwide

SANTA ROSA, Feb. 17, 2009 – Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) today reported a 16 percent drop in first-quarter revenues and said it would reduce its worldwide work force by 600 positions, or about 3 percent.

Net income for the first fiscal quarter of 2009 was $64 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, a drop of 44 percent compared with last year’s net income of $120 million, or $0.31 per share.

Orders were off 20 percent from the first quarter of 2008.

Agilent’s first-quarter revenues were down $227 million from one year ago, while operating profits were down only $69 million due to aggressive actions taken by the company to reduce costs.

Revenues for the electronic measurement business, of which the Wireless Business Group in Santa Rosa is a part, were down 23 percent.

According to Agilent spokesman Jeff Weber, reduced spending by customers globally was notable in the company’s first quarter.

“Results for our Agilent businesses in Santa Rosa were in the range of the figures reported for electronic measurement as a whole,” he said.

No breakdowns on where the job cuts would be located were yet available, he said. But as part of Agilent’s largest business group, the local operation will likely be impacted.

The local staff of 1,360 has already been asked to take a 10 percent pay reduction this year and took a furlough over the December holidays.