News and information group Reuters has unveiled plans to shed another 3,000 jobs after enduring the worst year in its 151-year history.

The group posted losses of almost £500 million and offered little sign of a respite from the conditions which have ravaged its annual figures.

Reuters has cut more than 2,000 jobs in the last 18 months.

It said the process would continue through a fresh restructuring plan.

That will take global head count from 16,000 to 13,000 by the end of 2005, with the programme expected to produce annual savings of £440 million.

The group wants its cost base "significantly smaller" and will largely achieve this through more focused product lines and a single technology platform.

Reuters, which employs 9,000 people in Europe, has not specified where job cuts will be, although it was thought many would relate to "back-office" work.

The bottom-line losses of £493 million for the year to December 31 compare with profits of £158 million a year earlier and represent the groups first loss since listing as a public company in 1984.

It is also the worst in its history.

Heavy, one-off finance charges at the groups electronic trading arm Instinet, which recorded losses of £370 million, caused the fall into the red.

Operating losses were £144 million, compared with profits of £302 million a year earlier.

The share price, fell 12 per cent to 135p after peaking at 1135p in 2001.