German steel and engineering group ThyssenKrupp is reorganising from five divisions into two. The changes involve the departures of Karl-Ulrich Köhler, CEO of the current steel division, and J¨¹rgen Fechter, CEO of stainless steel. The streamlining is designed to secure cost savings of ¡°up to €500m per year,¡± the company says.

The changes come as the group warned it will make a loss in the second quarter of its financial year (January-March 2009) because of a drastic slump in prices and demand for steel. Provided the economic situation improves in the second half of the year, ThyssenKrupp says it expects to report modestly positive operating earnings ¨C before restructuring and project costs.