Energizer Holdings Inc. plans to lay off workers and offer buyouts as sales in its household products division dropped in the third quarter.
The company’s board of directors on Monday approved a restructuring plan that offers voluntary enhanced retirement severance packages to hourly and salaried U.S. employees and eliminates additional positions through layoffs.
The job cuts are needed to “right-size manufacturing and sales operations in light of market uncertainty,” Energizer said Tuesday.
It's not yet clear how many workers will be affected by the layoffs and buyouts and where the job cuts will take place.
"We have not stated how many colleagues this is being offered to," said Jacqueline Burwitz, Energizer's vice president for investor relations. "The final numbers will be dependent on how many take the VERO as well the location."
Energizer has 14,000 employees worldwide, including 350 in St. Louis, she said.
The company expects to save between $15 million and $18 million a year once the reorganization is completed by the first quarter of fiscal 2010.
The cost of the restructuring is expected to be in the range of $22 million to $28 million, consisting primarily of one-time termination benefits.
Energizer on Tuesday reported $72.7 million in profit in its third quarter, up 9 percent from $66.7 million in the prior year’s quarter.
The company reported sales in the quarter ended June 30 were $997.5 million, down 6 percent from $1.1 billion a year ago.
Energizer’s household products unit, which includes batteries and lighting products, saw net sales drop 13 percent to $468 million in the recent quarter compared to last year’s fiscal third quarter. Excluding an unfavorable currency impact, household product sales declined 6 percent, the company said.
Results included a favorable adjustment of $700,000 from a change in the policy by which employees earn and vest in the company’s paid time off benefit.
Town and Country-based Energizer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ENR), led by Chief Executive Ward Klein, also makes Schick razors and Playtex tampons.
kvolkmann@bizjournals.com