SNC-Lavalin to cut 1,000 jobs in Canada; 4,000 worldwide

SNC-Lavalin plans to reduce its global workforce by nine per cent – 4,000 jobs – over the next 18 months as the company undergoes extensive “restructuring and right-sizing.”

SNC-Lavalin’s Canadian operations will suffer a significant blow, as roughly 1,000 workers will be laid off. The remaining 3,000 job cuts will take place outside of Canada “in sectors and end markets that face a more difficult operating environment.”

According to SNC-Lavalin, these cuts are necessary in order to deliver about $100 million in annual after tax operational efficiencies beginning in 2015 and they are part of its five-year strategic plan to build a global Tier-1 engineering and construction firm.

“We are taking definitive action to reshape our platform and enhance our ability to deliver outstanding services to clients, long-term value for our stakeholders and exciting opportunities for our team,” said Robert Card, President and CEO, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. “This is the next major phase in our five-year strategic plan, and we will build on the tremendous opportunity set created through the acquisition of Kentz and on the successful execution of our value-up initiatives.”

SNC-Lavalin acquired Kentz Corp. Ltd. (a company with 15,500 employees in 36 countries that provides engineering, construction management and technical support services to the oil and gas sector) for $2.1 billion at the end of August.