American Express To Lay Off 3,300

American Express Co. plans to lay off 3,300 workers this year, or about 5 percent of its employees, in an effort to improve the performance of its travel services unit.

The announcement Monday came as the charge-card company reported profits for the fourth quarter rose 55 percent from a year earlier.

About two-thirds of the jobs to be eliminated are based overseas and most come from administrative and support positions in the company’s travel related operations, which include its credit and charge cards, said Michael O’Neill, a company spokesman. Some American Express facilities will be closed in the restructuring, including a number of overseas travel offices.

The New York-based company employs about 70,000 workers.

The company said earnings were reduced by $138 million in accounting for the final three months of last year to pay for the restructuring, about $70 million of that going for worker severance payments.

Despite the charge, the company said it earned $595 million, or $1.23 a share in the fourth quarter of 1996, up from $384 million, or 77 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier. The 1996 quarter also includes a $300 million gain on the sale of its interest in First Data Corp.

The company generated revenue of $4.26 billion in the period, up from $4.05 billion.

American Express disclosed the layoffs in its Travel Related Services segment as it released its profit report. The effort is a continuation of efforts to “re-engineer” the card and travel segment.

Costs of the restructuring are expected to be recovered within two years, O’Neill said. “The intent is to get our cost structure to the point where it is best-in-class,” he added.