US industrial material manufacturer Brush Engineered Materials confirmed yesterday (5th February) that it has slashed its global workforce by ten per cent in recent months.

The Cleveland-based company noted in its fourth quarter results that the significant macro-economic decline around the globe prompted it to cut its employee numbers from 2,300 to roughly 2,070.

Although its Ohio headquarters, which has around 150 staff, was not impacted, Brush revealed that two and 100 people were cut from its plants in Lorain and Elmore respectively.

Posting a net loss of $2.8 million for the quarter, the firm explained that its performance was largely compromised by hefty charges and a 19 per cent fall in revenues as a result of decreasing sales of ruthenium-based materials.

"Lower shipments of the company's ruthenium-based materials for the media market negatively affected sales for the quarter by $26.7 million or 11 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of the prior year," the company said.

Commenting on the charges, it added: "The net income for 2008 was negatively impacted by a significant decline in the market price of ruthenium, which resulted in a non-cash charge of approximately $15.0 million pre-tax or $0.50 per share after tax."

However, Brush noted that some of the losses were offset by increased sales to the wireless photonics, medical, thin film services, solar, photovoltaic, undersea, and oil and gas markets.