Eastman Chemical to reduce costs by a further $100m

09 March 2009 13:35  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Eastman Chemical will further reduce costs by more than $100m (€79m) in response to the ongoing global recession, the US producer said on Monday.

The company will cut base pay for US employees by 5%, reduce its workforce by 200-300 and make further savings on maintenance and logistics costs, as well as cutting back on discretionary spending.

The measures were in addition to a previous $100m cost cutting strategy announced in December last year, Eastman said. 

“The severity of the current economic environment led to the actions we are announcing today,” said chairman and CEO Brian Ferguson. 

“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,” he added.

Eastman said capital spending this year would be cut to between $300m and $350m. It said it expected to generate $100m of cash from working capital in 2009.

“Assuming a modest improvement in demand that increases our capacity utilisation from the current rate of approximately 71% to between 75-80% 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,” Ferguson said.

($1 = €0.79)

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By: Nigel Davis
+44 20 8652 3214

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