Avon Products says it will cut 600 more jobs

NEW YORK - Avon Products (AVP) said Monday that it will cut another 600 jobs as it tries to reduce its spending.

The company said most of the eliminated jobs will be in its corporate organization and its North American business. Avon had 36,700 employees at the end of 2013.

Avon Products Inc. is the world's largest direct seller of cosmetics, but its sales have been steadily dropping. Under Sheri McCoy, who became CEO in 2012, Avon has cut costs, slashed thousands of jobs and left unprofitable markets.

Avon is trying to trim $400 million in spending by 2016 and said that the latest cuts should contribute $50 million to $55 million in annual savings.

It said it expects to take $45 million to $50 million in charges as a result of the cuts, with most of those coming in the second quarter.

Sliding sales have not been the only problems at New York-based Avon. In May the company said it would pay $135 million to settle a long-standing U.S. government probe into whether it paid bribes in China and other countries to gain favors.