伊士曼化学公司（纽约证券交易所：EMN）今天宣布，将采取额外的行动，以进一步降低成本超过1亿美元，以应对正在进行的全球经济衰退。除了12月宣布的行动外，这些行动还将伊士曼在2009年的预期总成本节省增加到超过2亿美元。
伊士曼正在采取以下行动来实现这些节省：
- Reducing base pay for U.S. employees by 5 percent effective March 30, 2009, with equivalent cost reductions in bargaining unit sites and locations outside the U.S.
- Implementing a global targeted reduction in force of between 200-300 employees within the next 4-6 weeks
- 降低非关键维护成本
- 降低物流成本
- 进一步降低酌处支出
“The severity of the current economic environment led to the actions we are announcing today,” said Brian Ferguson, chairman and CEO. “Despite our expectation that sales volume will continue to be at depressed levels, we remain committed to taking the necessary actions to deliver solid operating cash flow in 2009 that will more than support both our dividend and capital expenditures.”
In addition to taking actions to reduce costs, the company lowered its budgeted 2009 capital expenditures to between $300 and $350 million. The company also expects to generate approximately $100 million of cash from working capital in 2009, assuming continued difficult economic conditions and raw material and energy costs similar to current levels.
Commenting on the outlook for full-year 2009 earnings, Ferguson said, “While visibility into global demand continues to be limited, the actions we are taking to reduce costs position us to better weather the storm. Assuming a modest improvement in demand that increases our capacity utilization from the current rate of approximately 71 percent to between 75-80 percent for the remainder of the year, we expect our full-year 2009 earnings per share will be between $2.00-$3.00 excluding charges related to cost cutting actions.”
The cost reduction actions announced today will result in a first-quarter 2009 pre-tax restructuring charge of approximately $30 million.