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(Yicai Global) April 10 -- SAIC Motor, the largest of China’s big four state-owned automakers, has rebutted a rumor that it will cut salaries and shed staff.
“SAIC Motor has not issued any notice of pay cuts or layoffs,” Securities Daily reported today, citing a manager at the Shanghai-based firm. People in charge of the Roewe and Morris Garages brands at the company's SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicle unit also denied receiving any such notice, the report added.
According to a netizen on China's Quora-like platform Zhihu, SAIC Motor will cut the wages of executives by 20 percent, of department heads by 15 percent, and of all other employees by 10 percent. It also plans to reduce its headcount by about 3,000 via layoffs or early retirement, with some fresh graduates who recently joined the firm to be let go as well, the person noted.
SAIC Motor has stopped hiring fresh graduates to relieve operating pressure amid sluggish sales, the person added, noting that its general research and development arm may also face wage and staff cuts.
SAIC Motor's sales tumbled 27 percent to 891,000 units in the first quarter from a year earlier, with those of new energy vehicles dropping 26 percent to 142,100.
Revenue fell 4.6 percent to CNY527.4 billion (USD76.7 billion) in the nine months ended Sept. 30 from a year ago, according to the firm's latest earnings report. Net profit shrank 38 percent to a five-year low of CNY12.6 billion (USD1.8 billion).
According to another rumor in February, SAIC-GM, a joint venture set up by SAIC Motor and General Motors, had prepared a massive layoff, intending to buy out the contracts of employees over 45 years old. The claim was false, the JV subsequently said on its WeChat account.
Editor: Martin Kadiev