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Vestas To Lay Off 1,400 Workers Amid Wind Slowdown

Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world's biggest maker of wind turbines, says it is slashing 7 percent of its workforce in its second round of lay-offs this year. The western Denmark-based group says the job cuts of 1,400 workers will help it reduce fixed costs by more than €250 million ($310 million) as it deals with stiff competition and a market slowdown.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world's biggest maker of wind turbines, says it is slashing 7 percent of its workforce in its second round of lay-offs this year.

The western Denmark-based group says the job cuts of 1,400 workers will help it reduce fixed costs by more than €250 million ($310 million) as it deals with stiff competition and a market slowdown.

It was not immediately clear where the ax would fall, but Vestas has already announced some lay-offs in the United States. In January, the company trimmed its workforce by 2,335 jobs worldwide. It currently has 20,400 staff.

Wednesday's announcement came in conjunction with Vestas' second-quarter earnings report which showed a net loss of €8 million, down from a profit of €55 million in the same period last year.


Vestas lays off about 30 at Brighton, Colo. plant 

BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) — Vestas is laying off more Colorado workers, as uncertainty remains over whether a U.S. wind production tax credit will be extended.

The latest cuts are at a plant in Brighton that makes nacelles, which house components of a wind turbine. The Danish wind turbine manufacturer said Tuesday that the cuts amount to about 1 percent of its 3,000 employees in Canada and the U.S., or about 30 workers.

That's on top of 90 layoffs that Vestas announced last week at its tower factory in Pueblo.

Vestas also has blade plants in Brighton and Windsor. Its work force includes about 1,700 employees in Colorado.

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