Anne-Francoise Pele Courtesy of EE Times Europe (10/23/2008 5:39 AM EST)

PARIS — EMS provider Jabil Circuit Inc. (St. Petersburg, Florida) announced its decision to close, sell or implement another restructuring plan at its manufacturing plant in Brest, in the French region of Brittany, according to French daily newspaper Ouest France.

In the recent years, Jabil Brest has been through hard times and its revenues for the year 2007 are 25 percent lower than the company's expectations.

In October 2007, workers at the manufacturing sites of Jabil Brest expressed their dissatisfaction after the company officially stated that it would cut about 200 jobs, out of 514, by June 2008. Jabil Circuit made the announcement late August 2007 after Alcatel-Lucent had decided to transfer manufacturing activities from Jabil in Brest to Solectron in China. Jabil's restructuring was to cost $250 million.

Under the terms of a memorandum of understanding, signed by Alcatel and Jabil in March 2002, Jabil acquired the assets of the Brest manufacturing plant. This included an outsourcing agreement by which Jabil would manufacture Alcatel's PXB and IP-based PCX communication systems.

Seven hundred Alcatel employees were then transferred to Jabil Circuit on the final closing of the agreement. Jabil Brest now employs 300 people, according to Ouest France.