Kodak is to shed up to 1,700 jobs - or 2% of its global workforce - as its latest attempt to cut costs and ride out the market downturn.

The photography giant said it would cut about 150 positions in its US-based research and development units, and transfer two manufacturing operations - in New York State and Guadalajara, Mexico - to other locations.

The company said it would attempt to redeploy affected employees, and would trim back on contract personnel, but that the overall headcount would necessarily fall.

Kodak is in the process of attempting to cut $200m (�126m) from its annual costs, since sales of its cameras and film remain persistently sluggish.

Brighter prospects

The company's shares jumped by more than 2% in response to the news, since the company insisted that the restructuring would almost achieve its $200m savings target.

The news comes just a month after Kodak posted a near-quadrupling in profits for the three months to end-September.

But since sales during the quarter had shown almost no growth, the company warned it would have to reduce staff further to give its business a kick-start.

Last year, Kodak cut 7,000 jobs.