IBM UK reduced its headcount by 389 roles in 2024, dropping from 7,309 to 6,920 employees, according to newly filed financial statements. This workforce reduction follows an even sharper decline from 7,660 staff in 2022, highlighting a continued contraction trend. The job cuts coincided with a significant 24.6% fall in pre-tax profit, from £172.9 million in 2023 to £130.4 million in 2024, despite the company’s ongoing pivot to AI and hybrid cloud services.
Revenue saw a marginal dip, decreasing from £3.06 billion to £3.04 billion. Export revenues dropped 12.8%, attributed to internal restructuring in IBM’s global R&D activities. As a result of the performance, no dividend was issued to the US parent company in 2024, compared to a £198 million payout the previous year.
Despite the contraction, IBM highlighted a 1.6% revenue increase in its core UK business units and a stronger net asset position, rising to £1.98 billion. The gain was partially driven by its acquisition of Super iPaaS Integration UK Limited and improvements in retirement benefit assets.
The board maintained a positive outlook, stating the UK arm made “significant progress” towards becoming a more focused and innovation-led business. However, the job reductions and profit decline underscore ongoing cost pressures and strategic reshuffling, with workforce optimisation likely to remain a key lever in IBM UK’s transformation agenda.