MONTERREY, Mexico, March 27 (Reuters) - Mexican glass giant Vitro said on Thursday it hopes this year to cut debt levels by up to $70 million and make savings of $40 million through operations efficiencies that include job cuts.
"We have a plan to reduce debt by between $50 million and $70 million this year," Vitro's finance director Claudio del Valle told reporters after the company's annual shareholders meeting.
Vitro closed 2002 with debt totaling $1.455 billion, down $161 million from a year earlier.
Vitro's Chief Executive Officer Federico Sada also told reporters that given the uncertainty of the duration of the Iraq war and its impact on the local economy the company would continue to sell-off nonstrategic assets and reduce costs.
"We are taking effective measures, principally in the area of reducing costs," Sada said. "We are placing more emphasis on productivity on each and every one of our operations and on introducing new systems, updating processes that seek to slim down our workforce," he said.
Sada said the plan to be more efficient and cut costs would bring savings of $40 million in 2002. "This is nothing new, we have been implementing such measures for the last five or six years."
Last year, Vitro saved $22 million through consolidating operations, cutting out double functions and reducing staff levels, according to Vitro's annual report. At the end of 2002, Vitro employed 27,174 people, down 389 from a year earlier.