Ship systems company Kongsberg is laying off 450 staff as it aims to save money and integrate Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine.
The Norwegian group bought the UK operation in April last year and it has been merged into a new Kongsberg Maritime (KM) division called Commercial Marine (CM).
The company has announced it will make 450 full-time staff redundant across the Kongsberg organisation as part of a plan to save NOK 500m ($54m).
This has been brought forward from 2022 to this year.
Kongsberg chief executive Geir Haoy said: "We are ahead of schedule with the largest integration in the company’s history, while at the same time delivering increased revenues.
"The integration of Commercial Marine has been a work of high quality, something demonstrated by the Q4 performance."
He said there had been a good order intake throughout the year despite a weak market in general for newbuildings.
Group net profit was NOK 359m in the fourth quarter, down from NOK 369m in 2018, while revenue grew to NOK 8.16bn against NOK 4.14bn.
Positive performance from new division
CM's Ebitda was NOK 7.9m during the quarter, from operating revenue of NOK 3bn.
The propulsion and engine division had high revenue in the period as a result of significant delivery volumes towards the end of the year, it said.
The order intake in 2019 was NOK 15.46bn. New business in the newbuilding market was weak in a number of segments in both the fourth quarter and for the year as a whole.
"One market that excelled in 2019 is the LNG market. This is a market where KM traditionally has a strong presence," it said.
"New contracts in this market are at about the same level as in 2018, when the contracting of LNG carriers reached a historically high level."
Kongsberg also said it agreed to sell its subsea subsidiary Hydroid to Huntington Ingalls Industries in the US for $350m.
"At the same time, the parties will enter into a strategic cooperation agreement on subsea technology and maritime solutions, which will come into effect once the transaction has been completed," it added.
Kongsberg bought Hydroid for $80m in 2007.
The Massachusetts-based company produces and supplies autonomous subsea vessels for both the military and commercial markets.
