Quiksilver, Inc. is to cut 200 jobs in a bid to reduce expenses in its Americas region. The continued decline in the consumer retail environment has been given as the reason behind the layoffs.

The company hopes its restructuring plan will reduce expenses in the Americas region by more than 10%, or approximately $40 million annually, and will impact nearly all functional areas. It expects to record a charge of approximately $5 million in its first fiscal quarter as a result of these actions.

These cost reduction measures are in addition to expense reductions made by the company in 2008 and other actions already taken in the company's European and Asia Pacific regional businesses.

Robert McKnight, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer, said: "Beginning last year, we initiated a process to reduce our corporate overhead and cut spending in each of our regions. While these measures improved our overall cost structure by more than $35 million, our commitment to further streamlining the business and the continued decline in the retail environment make additional steps necessary.

"Our spending cuts are across-the-board, touching each of our internal organisations and systems in the Americas, but have been designed to drive improved efficiency while minimising the impact to our customers and other business partners. All levels of our organisation are affected by these actions as nearly 20% of the employees involved in the reduction hold manager-level titles or higher. Our management team has worked together on these cost reduction measures with the primary goal of becoming better positioned to weather the current environment and to meet our business objectives moving forward."