Light bulb maker Signify, spun off by Philips in 2018, is cutting its workforce by 700, and 250 of the jobs to go are in the Netherlands, the Eindhovens Dagblad said on Thursday.

The jobs will go mainly at the headquarters in Eindhoven and Amsterdam, in the legal services, personnel and communications departments, the paper said. The company has a global workforce of 37,000.

The company said earlier this month that it had performed better than expected in 2020 and would pay back workers who had voluntarily supported a 20% reduction in both working hours and pay.

The company is also planning to pay shareholders an ‘extraordinary’ dividend totalling €170m, or €1.35 per share, in addition to the regular dividend over 2020.

Full year results will be published on Friday.

Chief executive Eric Rondolat said earlier he expects the coronavirus crisis to have  long-lasting consequences and that hotels, offices and shops are expected to invest less in lighting in the coming years.