Watts Water to cut jobs, freeze salaries

* Q3 EPS $0.45 in line with estimates

(Reuters) - Plumbing products supplier Watts Water Technologies Inc (WTS.N) said it would cut jobs, freeze salaries and suspend its stock buyback program to save costs, even as it reported a quarterly profit that was in line with Street estimates.

The company said it was implementing these actions due to the current state of the economy and the expected continued slowdown in its residential and commercial businesses.

"All discretionary spending is being reviewed and limited where possible and we are performing a review of our manufacturing footprint to identify opportunities for further consolidation," Chief Executive Officer Patrick O'Keefe said.

Watts Water said the workforce reduction would be in North America across all levels of the organization during the fourth quarter. The company will take severance charges in that quarter, it said.

The company said effective immediately all North American salaries will be frozen for at least the first nine months of 2009.

For the third quarter, net income was $16.7 million, or 45 cents a share, compared with $18.1 million, or 46 cents a share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 11 percent to $379.3 million.

Shares of the company closed at $23.97 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by A.Ananthalakshmi in Bangalore; Editing by Anil D'Silva)