Target slashes jobs

Target Australia has confirmed it will slash 260 jobs following an internal review.

The news comes just a week after the company confirmed to ragtrader.com.au it was undergoing a restructure.

The job cuts will occur at the company's store support centre in Geelong, along with regional support locations.

A new organisational structure to help restore business performance, the company said in a statement.

Newly appointment Target managing director Stuart Machin said the restructure was needed to get the business on a sustainable path to growth.

"This is an extremely difficult time for our team and, unfortunately, we'll be losing many great team members," he said.

"With our sales and profit under-performance over the past 12 months, we have needed to act in order to get our costs under control and the right store support structure in place."

Machin said affected staff would receive full entitlements and support, including career-change help.

Target would also explore redeployment opportunities wherever available, he said.

Parent company Wesfarmers, which also owns Kmart, downgraded its earnings forecast for Target in May.

Wesfarmers expected earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the 2013 financial year at between $140 million and $160 million.

This compared to EBIT of $244 million in 2011/12.

Target appointed its third head in two years in April, following the shock resignation of Dene Rogers.