AstraZeneca to Cut 4.6% of Work Force.

The article reports that AstraZeneca PLC has decided to cut 4.6 percent of its global work force. The decision has been taken to guarantee future profit growth as the increased competition affects sales. The job cuts of over three years will target the factories of the company. AstraZeneca experienced the percentage of pretax profit jumped to $8.54 billion and sales were up by 11 percent. But the company is expecting slow growth in 2007 due to a 33 percent surge in earnings.