PPG Industries has announced a restructuring program that includes the elimination of 1,100 positions at the company, or 2.3% of the company’s global workforce. The cuts are in response to a loss in business at the company’s US architectural coatings business as well as sustained, elevated raw material inflation, PPG said in a regulatory filing.
A pretax restructuring charge of $80 million to $85 million will be recorded in the second quarter 2018 financial results, of which about $75 million to $80 million represents employee severance and other cash costs. The remainder represents the write-down of certain assets and other non-cash costs.
In addition, other cash costs of up to $35 million to $40 million are expected, consisting of incremental restructuring-related cash costs for certain items that are required to be expensed on an as-incurred basis of approximately $15 million and approximately $20 million to $25 million for items which are expected to be capitalized, PPG says. The company expects the cash payback of the restructuring program to be less than two years.
“These business-restructuring actions, while always difficult decisions, are needed to ensure that our cost structure is appropriate for business conditions and that our operations remain globally competitive,” a PPG spokesperson tells CW. He added that no additional details are available at this time.
In February, PPG suffered a setback when Lowe’s said it will stop selling PPG’s Olympic brand paints and stains later this year. Lowe’s signed a deal for Sherwin-Williams to become its exclusive US supplier for interior and exterior house paints. PPG said in February that sales at Lowe’s stores in the United States represent less than $300 million of its annual sales and that it would aggressively and appropriately adjust its cost structure to adapt to the change.
By Natasha Alperowicz
Source: Chemical Week
Neste Corporation’s Board of Directors has appointed Heikki Malinen, M.Sc. (Econ.), MBA (Harvard) as the President and CEO of Neste as of 2 November 2024, at the latest. Malinen joins Neste from Outokumpu Corporation where he has held the position of President and CEO since 2020.
Petrochemicals company Sasol has announced that CFO and executive director Hanré Rossouw will step down from his position, effective October 31. Sasol has started the process to appoint a successor. Rossouw will still oversee the publication of Sasol’s reports for the financial year ending June 30, to allow for a structured handover period.
Chemours announced its CFO Jonathan Lock has resigned from all positions within the company, according to an SEC 8-K filing on April 23. The resignation comes in the aftermath of the company announcing that Lock, former CEO Mark Newman, and principal accounting officer Camela Wisel, had been placed on administrative leave.
