Australia's Orbital spins off 35 jobs

MELBOURNE - Embattled Orbital Engine Corp said it had cut a fifth of its workforce, axing 35 jobs and reshaping under its new chief to focus on marketing its engine technology, in a bid to break even next year.

The changes, foreshadowed last week, are part of a campaign to be "cash neutral next financial year, to be more commercially focused and to reflect the company's progression from a phase of research and development ... ," Perth-based Orbital Engine said.

The moves came as the group's shares languished unchanged at A30c, just above a record low of A24c after a long slide over 10 years from A$4.90 ($5.77) as a range of projects failed to yield returns.

Orbital, which has developed technologies for cleaner-burning and more fuel-efficient engines, also appointed new engineering and marketing heads to chase customers.

"We must ensure that Orbital has the financial and human resources necessary to convert a number of opportunities available to it in the automotive, marine, recreational and motorcycle markets," the chief executive, Peter Cook, said.

The group, with a market value of A$105 million ($123.7 million), reported in February an operating loss of A$14.3 million for the first half of 2001/02, a slight improvement on its A$16.2 million loss in the same half last year.