IBM poised to axe UK staff

Global Technology Services staff in the UK under threat as IBM commences consultation process

IBM could be about to wield the axe on its employees once again - the fourth time in just two years - with some its global technology services staff in the UK about to get the chop.

The company confirmed in a statement to Computing that it "plans to begin a consultation process with employee representative groups with a view to discussing business objectives in the UK" - a long-winded way of suggesting that the redundancy process has formally started.

It would not elaborate further on the number of employees who may be at risk of redundancy, nor how many staff will be made redundant.

It was only last year that rumours surfaced that the company was to lay off 26 per cent of its workforce, which amounts to around 110,000 people.

The company's director of corporate communications, Doug Shelton, debunked the rumours by claiming that the number was "ridiculous and baseless" and "off by a factor of more than 10".

Back in February 2014, it was thought to have let many of its US employees go in an attempt to trim its wage will as part of a $1bn (£600m) restructuring programme.

The seemingly constant layoffs come as the company has been stuttering over the past few years; its latest quarterly results in January showed yet another revenue and profits decline, with the company shrinking for the 15th consecutive quarter in a row.

Revenues were down almost entirely across the board, meaning that IBM CEO Ginni Rometty couldn't pin the blame on the divestiture of the System x low-end server business.

Total revenues fell by 8.5 per cent from $24.1bn to $22.1bn in the fourth quarter, while for the full year the decline was even more stark - down by 11.9 per cent from $92.8bn to $81.7bn.