Logitech (LOGI) late Monday said it is withdrawing its sales and operating income growth targets for the March 2009 fiscal year. The maker of computer peripherals and other consumer electronics accessories also said it will reduce its global workforce by about 15 percent. The company has about 9,400 employees, suggesting the loss of about 1,400 jobs. The cuts will result in an unspecified charge to earnings in the fiscal fourth quarter ending in March.

In a statement, CEO Gerald Quindlen said that in December, “the retail environment deteriorated significantly.” He said customers reduced inventory levels in the face of weaker consumer demand. Quindlen added that he expects the economic environment to worsen in the coming months.

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Computer peripheral powerhouse Logitech is working to get some PR mileage out of a milestone event–since letting the first one scamper into the retail market in 1985, the company has now shipped one billion computer mice. Pretty impressive, even if all the economic recovery plan numbers have sapped “billion” of some of its impact. “It’s rare in human history that a billionth of anything has been shipped by one company,” Logitech’s general manager Rory Dooley told the BBC. “Look at any other industry and it has never happened.” OK, members of paper clip and toothpick industries, among others, might want to quibble, but we’ll let it slide.

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