Torstar Corp. said Tuesday that its publishing subsidiary, Harlequin Enterprises Ltd., will cut four per cent of its global workforce.

The company did not immediately disclose how many jobs will be cut.

In a brief statement, Torstar said it expects it will take a restructuring charge of approximately $2.5 million. The media company said the cuts will help it save about $3 million annually.

Toronto-based Harlequin said it sold 131 million books in 2005. The company has offices in New York, London, Tokyo, Milan, Sydney, Paris, Madrid, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Athens, Budapest, Granges-Paccot, Warsaw and Rio de Janeiro.

In the second quarter of this year, Harlequin's revenue fell by $17 million from the same quarter last year to $114.6 million. After factoring out the effect of the rising Canadian dollar, Harlequin's revenue was up $1.6 million year over year.

Operating profits at Harlequin slipped 56 per cent to $10.2 million.

Following the announcement, shares of Torstar lost 15 cents to finish at $19.49 on the TSX.