Salton, Inc. (NYSE:SFP) announced today that is in the process of finalizing the initial phase of its recently announced cost-reduction program. The Company is releasing over 200 employees in its domestic operations, reducing annualized expenses by $11 million. In connection with the reduction in personnel, the Company expects to take a charge, in its fourth fiscal quarter for the period ending June 28, 2004, of approximately $0.6 million for severance costs.
“While it is disappointing that we had to take these actions, Salton is firmly committed to returning its domestic operations to profitability,” said Leonhard Dreimann, Chief Executive Officer. “We believe these actions, as part of our overall restructuring activities, will better align our domestic cost structure with the current revenue base. We continue to aggressively target other areas for additional cost savings and are confident that we will quickly reach our previously announced objective of a minimum of $40 million in cost reductions. While these lay offs are emotionally difficult for the Salton management team, we have already made plans to ensure that there is as little disruption as possible, and expect that it will have little impact on our overall sales activity.”
After the lay offs, Salton employs 530 people in its domestic operations.