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Miriam,
I know you got to feel better just getting that out. I woke up today with my eye hurting and other things and did not go to work. I am waiting for the HMO to call back. I have finally decided that maybe I better get an anti-depresent.
I have worked for the at the same place for almost 22 years and have gone through all the changes expected. When I started there we used pencils and paper to do our figuring. Calculators came about a year later, CRT’s way after that and today PC’s! Now they have been having working on reducing our numbers thru early retirements, early outs and people just leaving. It is a never ending change and stress. I feel like I have spent my whole life there and being loyal does not really count.
My point is that all my caring is not going to change one thing and maybe this is the way things are supposed to turn out. The only thing each of us really has is today. One thing I do understand is when you don’t feel good it isn’t any easier to be so accepting.
Michele
Mike called me and asked me to tape the 12 o’clock news today. He said there were tv crews all over his plant. Sara Lee announced the following today which will affect Mike’s plant. If they follow through with this, Mike will probably lose his job and we’ll lose our house. Tell me how I’m going to deal with this stress? I have 5 young kids to worry about and no family around to help. Funny thing is (not to me) Sara Lee’s stock is jumping higher and higher even as I write this. Yes this stress is making my heart rate increase and my jerking increase too . Here’s their announcement.
Company to generate $3 billion by de-verticalizing operations;also plans to sell businesses, reduce costs and repurchase $3 billion in
common stock
CHICAGO, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire/ — Sara Lee Corporation (NYSE: SLE) announced today that it is considering the adoption of a three-year strategic program to more tightly focus its business activity and make the corporation more competitive. The program is designed to improve the company’s financial returns and its sales and earnings growth rates, thereby increasing shareholder value.
The key element of this program is a plan to de-verticalize the operations of the corporation to the extent practical and possible. The company is targeting to raise $3 billion in cash over the next three years through the divestment of operating assets and further cost reduction programs, including outsourcing. In addition, certain business units may be sold. With these proceeds, Sara Lee intends to significantly accelerate the repurchase of its common stock, spending at least $3 billion over the next three years to re- acquire its stock in the open market.
“This restructuring program is aimed at fundamentally reshaping Sara Lee Corporation for the future,” said John H. Bryan, chairman and chief executive officer. “While Sara Lee is currently operating at record levels by every measure of financial performance, we always seek to further improve results and enhance shareholder value.”
Mr. Bryan went on to say, “The business of Sara Lee Corporation has been and will continue to be the building of branded leadership positions. The size and strength of these positions today, coupled with rapidly advancing globalization and specialization in our marketplace, lead us to de-verticalize our operations. This program will significantly reduce the capital demands on our company, enhance our competitiveness and let us focus even more sharply on our mission of building brands.”
For the program’s first phase, Sara Lee is in discussions to divest substantially all of the company’s U.S. yarn and textile operations related to knit products. Total cash flow benefits to Sara Lee from this transaction are expected to approximate $500 million over the next three years. The divestiture of these assets will allow Sara Lee to reduce its manufacturing presence while increasing its focus on the more profitable business of building and marketing its leading brands. Profits, margins and returns are expected to improve through lower fixed expenses and reduced operating costs. Top-line growth will benefit from savings achieved through restructuring and cost reduction efforts that will be targeted toward investment spending behind brand building and marketing initiatives.
Other assets, relating both to Sara Lee’s food and non-food businesses, are expected to be included in subsequent transactions over the next three years.
Sara Lee’s management is also considering the divestiture of certain businesses with revenues of less than $1 billion. While the sale of these business units would increase the focus of Sara Lee’s remaining operations, no business unit will be sold unless Sara Lee receives an economically attractive valuation.
The three-year strategic program will result in a fiscal 1998 after-tax charge, which is currently estimated to be approximately $1.6 billion, related primarily to the sale and write-down of assets that the company has determined it does not need to own in order to fulfill its primary mission of building brands on a global basis. The company anticipates that the charge will be predominantly non-cash. The size and composition of the write-off have not yet been fully determined, although this process is expected to be completed by the end of the company’s third fiscal quarter.
After-tax savings from the restructuring program and cost reduction efforts are estimated to be $25 million to $50 million in fiscal 1998, rising to $100 million to $125 million by the year 2000. While the company projects a higher earnings growth rate as a result of these savings, a significant percentage of the additional funds will be used to increase sales through enhanced investment spending and marketing programs.
Lastly, in connection with the restructuring, Sara Lee plans to repurchase at least $3 billion in Sara Lee common stock in the open market over the next three years. This stock buyback activity would represent the most aggressive share repurchase plan in the company’s history.
Sara Lee Corporation, a global food and consumer products company with $19.7 billion in sales, markets a wide variety of products under leading brand names, including Sara Lee, Ball Park, Hillshire Farm, Jimmy Dean, Aoste, Douwe Egberts, Hanes, Hanes Her Way, L’eggs, Bali, Playtex, Champion, Coach, Dim, Sanex and Kiwi.
SOURCE Sara Lee Corporation
CO: Sara Lee Corporation
ST: Illinois
IN: FOD
SU: RCN
09/15/97 08:24 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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