Further restructuring measures
Finnish Ahlstrom Corporation a specialist for high-performance materials announces further restructuring measures to cure non performing units
Ahlstrom announces the closure of its Bishopville plant in America which manufactures mainly glassfibres for reinforcements. Due to the weakening demand in the wind energy business in North America 74 employees are affected starting from January 2012.
At its Mikkeli plant in Finland a further reduction of seven persons will take place starting from December 2011 however the production of glassfiber reinforcements will continue at this site.
As part of the improving profit arrangement the annual operating profit will be affected by approximately EUR 15 million starting in 2012 and may concern about 400 employees in total but the impact of non-recurring items is cash neutral. Part of the program are a total of 305 employees in Karhula (SF), Osnabrück (D), Torino (I), Bishopville (USA) and Mikkeli (SF). The entire imnprovement program will necessitate around EUR 32 million thereof around EUR 25 million will be charged to the third-quarter results of the ongoing year and another charge of EUR 7 million for the newly announced measures will be made in the fourth quarter of this year. Ahlstrom will support the affected collaborators with various measures.