Georgia may be immune to NCR job cuts

By Dan Chapman

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

NCR Corp., the economic-development coup of the year for Georgia, said Thursday it will lay off up to 10 percent of its global workforce, though it was unclear whether anyone in Duluth, Peachtree City or Columbus would lose their jobs.

NCR, which makes ATM machines, checkout scanners and self-serve kiosks, said Thursday that third-quarter profits tumbled 81 percent and that more than 2,200 workers could lose their jobs at the Fortune 500 company.

The company announced in June that it was relocating its headquarters from Dayton, Ohio, to Duluth and bringing 1,250 jobs to Gwinnett County. With a manufacturing plant in Columbus and a training center in Peachtree City, NCR could one day employ 3,000 Georgians.

Nick Masino, vice president for economic development with the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, said Thursday evening that he was “unaware of any cuts in Georgia.”

“Everything is going as planned,” he said. “We’re aggressively moving forward with NCR transfers from Dayton to Atlanta. We’re actually recruiting folks for thousands of new jobs in Georgia.”

NCR chairman and CEO Bill Nuti blamed the recession, and customers’ tight-fisted spending habits, for the job cuts.

"While we will take additional cost reduction actions to right size our enterprise, our early view is that 2010 will be a better year for NCR and for our customers, and should position NCR for moderate growth and margin expansion," he said.

In Duluth, NCR executives will occupy a six-story building on Satellite Boulevard across from Gwinnett Place mall. It is less than a mile from a facility the company already owns where 300 employees work.

NCR planned to hire 870 people for a factory in Columbus and was also expected to hire 900 people at a customer service and training center in Peachtree City.

Alison Tyrer, spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Economic Development, said no Georgia layoffs had been announced. Peter Tulupman, an NCR spokesman, wouldn't comment specifically about jobs in Georgia.

Yet the structure of Georgia’s incentives package to lure NCR – nearly $110 million in grants, loans and tax credits – makes it less likely that Georgia will be hit hard by the job losses. So-called “claw-back” provisions in the contract would force NCR to repay millions of dollars if a certain number of jobs are not created.

“All of these incentives are tied to job creation,” said Bert Brantley, spokesman for Gov. Sonny Perdue. “Those are all per-job stuff.”

NCR earned $15 million, or 9 cents per share, in the July-September quarter, down from $80 million, or 48 cents per share, a year ago. Its shares dropped $1.49, or 12.2 percent, to $10.73 in midday trading.