(New York) The American hygiene products group Kimberly-Clark announced on Wednesday the reorganization of its activities, with a reduction of its staff, at an estimated cost of around 1.5 billion dollars before taxes by the end of 2026 .
The manufacturer of Kleenex has adopted a “global transformation initiative” aimed at “focusing on growth and reducing structural costs”, he explained in a declaration to the watchdog of the American Stock Exchange (SEC).
This reorganization aims to create three new branches to, he assures, improve its efficiency in terms of operating costs and to “optimize” its global supply chain.
These three branches, which should be implemented by the end of 2024 for an expected saving of $200 million in the coming years, will be: North America, Personal hygiene products (IPC, babies and children, feminine products, adults) and Products for family and professionals (IFP, paper tissues in particular).
The group is targeting more than $3 billion in gross productivity savings, it said in a press release.
Certain measures to achieve this objective were initiated in the first quarter of the current financial year and the reorganization should be finalized by December 31, 2026.
They should result in a pre-tax charge of $1.5 billion, cumulatively over the entire period.
The financial cost should be around half of this sum, in the form of compensation due to a reduction in staff, the extent of which is not specified at this stage.
Non-financial charges will mainly consist of asset depreciation, the group stressed.
It confirmed its financial objectives for 2024, disclosed on January 24 during the presentation of its 2023 annual results: organic growth in its turnover of up to 5% and an increase of around 10% at exchange rate. constant for its operating profit and earnings per share.
Around 3:30 p.m. ET, Kimberly-Clark stock was up 0.60%.