Almost 40 jobs will be cut after two of Bermuda's most prominent local employers announced plans to scale back their workforces yesterday.

Bermuda Telephone Company (BTC) said it was looking to trim its staff base by about 25 employees — or more than 12 percent — in a bid to reduce costs and restructure its business.

Those who will be impacted from a workforce of approximately 200 include management and line staff from various departments of the company and are all Bermudian.

BTC President & CEO, Mr. Francis Mussenden, who held talks with all BTC employees to unveil the company's 2010/11 business strategies last week, said the decision was taken mainly as a result of falling profits in the land line sector.

On the same day, HomeZone announced it would cease trading at the end of next month, with 14 employees affected by the closure, as a result of the economic downturn.

The electrical and appliances division of the HWP Group had suffered a 60 percent decline in sales over the past two years, which combined with ever increasing costs of doing business on the Island — including the recently announced rise in the rate of payroll tax — had led to the department becoming no longer economically viable.

HWP said it was actively seeking to retain as many of HomeZone's staff as possible within its core automotive business or to help them find alternative employment elsewhere.

For full story see Business page 13