Array

BOSTON, Mar 17 (Reuters) Lenovo Group Ltd., the world's No. 3 personal computer maker, said on Thursday it will cut about 1,000 jobs, or 5 per cent of its work force, to slash costs following last year's acquisition of IBM's PC business.

Lenovo, China's largest PC maker, said the lay-offs are part of a restructuring plan aimed at achieving some $250 million in annual cost savings.

The company said it expects to incur $100 million in restructuring-related charges in its fiscal fourth quarter, which ends March 31. The restructuring will be completed in six to 12 months, Lenovo said.

''We intend to drive a substantial portion of the anticipated run-rate savings into programmes that will help Lenovo combat competitive pressures around the world and leverage our new products and brand recognition,'' Chief Executive William Amelio said in a statement.

That expansion effort includes a plan to start selling computers under the Lenovo brand outside of China for the first time. It announced that strategy last month during a high-profile marketing campaign that it launched through a sponsorship of the Winter Olympics.

Lenovo said it also plans to move some corporate functions from Purchase, New York, to Raleigh, North Carolina.

The company burst onto the world stage last year after it bought the struggling PC division of International Business Machines Corp for $1.25 billion.

REUTERS SD SSC1432