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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wyätt Gwyön who wrote (11763)	4/12/2004 9:31:26 AM
From: russwinter	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 110194

The Fed's Fully Funded Inflation AND Train Wreck Job Bust Program gathers steam: Reuters Chemicals Maker DuPont to Cut 3,500 Jobs Monday April 12, 9:00 am ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - DuPont Co. (NYSE:DD - News), the No. 2 U.S. chemicals maker, on Monday said it will cut 3,500 jobs, or 6 percent of its work force, as part of a previously announced plan to reduce costs by $900 million in the face of high raw material prices. The Wilmington, Delaware, company said most of the jobs will be cut in North America and Western Europe. The cuts are in addition to employees affected by the $4.2 billion sale of its Invista clothing and carpet fiber business later this month, it said. The job cuts and other restructuring steps are expected to result in a one-time charge of 17 cents to 19 cents per share against second-quarter earnings, mainly for employee severance costs. The charges will be finalized during the second quarter, the company said in a statement. DuPont late last year announced plans to cut jobs -- with half the cuts to be taken this year and the rest next year -- but declined at the time to disclose details. Several analysts had complained that DuPont lagged larger rival Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE:DOW - News) in the cost-cutting department. Dow was able to turn around its results last year by cutting 4,000 jobs, or 8 percent of its work force. DuPont said that by the end of this year, about 3,000 jobs will be eliminated through severance programs and about 500 through normal attrition. DuPont has said the cost cuts will make it more competitive. Like other U.S. chemicals makers, it has struggled with high energy and raw material costs caused by shrinking natural gas production and the war in Iraq. The work force reductions will save about $325 million annually and keep the company on track to cut costs by $900 million in 2005, DuPont said. As part of the $900 million in savings, DuPont will save about $375 million by reducing external spending in areas such as contract services, supplies procurement, telecommunications and information technology. It will save about $200 million by consolidating product lines and improving margins. Shares of DuPont closed Thursday trade on the New York Stock Exchange (News - Websites) at $43.43.