Bookham cuts another 100 jobs

Shares in fibre optics firm Bookham Technology slumped by around a fifth yesterday afternoon after the company issued its second profits warning this year and said it would lay off another 100 staff.

A market star last year, Bookham's share price has crashed from a high of £53.80 to close at just 232p on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

The firm said that sales for the three months to the end of June would be 55 per cent lower than for the previous three months, and that the 100 job losses would be in addition to the 150 announced in March.

Chief executive Giorgio Anania said: "Notwithstanding the downturn in the market, we are confident that the long-term prospects for the deployment of silicon integrated optical chips in optical networking systems remains strong."