Shell Q3 profit falls 62 pct, to cut 5,000 jobs

Just when you feel assured the worst of recession is over, there comes some news which reminds me of the Q1 and Q2 of this year where many reported severe losses.Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe's largest oil company, reported Thursday a 62 percent fall in profit for the third quarter due to lower oil prices, and said it plans to cut 5,000 jobs to cope with continuing weakness in the global economy.
In Europe there are few if any signs of demand recovering...in the United States if anything there's some bottoming, improvment in one or two subsectors but not yet firm enough to call a recovery," he said.Shell said net profit was $3.25 billion (euro2.21 billion), down from $8.45 billion in the same period a year ago. Sales fell 43 percent to $75.0 billion.Shell Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said the company is not expecting a swift economic recovery and will this year cut around 5 percent of its work force, some 5,000 jobs, primarily in middle managment.