Retailer David Jones has been forced to cut 150 jobs in their head office and administration roles.

The reason for the dismissals is said to be due to the company’s bleak economic outlook, after they announced sales and profit forecast cuts.

David Jones has commented that like-for-like sales in the second quarter would fall around 9.5 per cent, compared to previous guidance of a fall of 7.5 per cent.

Profit after tax for the 2009 and 2010 financial years are said to be between 0-5 per cent, which is much lower than the expected 5-10 per cent, earlier suggested.

The retailer is obviously being hit hard by the slowing economy, but they still remain confident and have stated that they are not going to cut any customer-facing jobs in the company.