Rolls-Royce – To cut 2,600 staff, mostly in the Aerospace division

British engineer Rolls-Royce (RR.L) plans to cut 2,600 jobs to save money and has replaced its finance director, aiming to restore confidence following two profit warnings in eight months.

The world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines said the job cuts, which will mostly come in the Aerospace division and will take 18 months to complete, were designed to save around 80 million pounds ($128 million) a year once the redundancy program was complete.

Rolls-Royce, which dates back to 1884 and has around 55,000 staff worldwide, has traditionally had lower margins than market leader General Electric (GE.N), meaning it can be undercut by its rival.

“We are taking determined management action and accelerating our progress on cost,” said Chief Executive John Rishton. “The measures announced today will not be the last, however they will contribute towards Rolls-Royce becoming a stronger and more profitable company.”

The majority of the aerospace jobs are in Britain and the United States and the need to cut numbers comes as the focus on Rolls’ key Trent engines moves from a development to production phase, requiring fewer engineers.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Rolls-Royce to cut 2,600 staff, appoints new finance chief | Reuters.