Courtesy of Benzinga.
In order to restructure its business portfolio and address underperforming assets, Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) announced today that it plans to exit its existing phosphorous flame retardants business. Albemarle currently produces phosphorus flame retardants, part of its Polymer Solutions business segment, at its Avonmouth, United Kingdom and Nanjing, China manufacturing sites. The proposal to exit the business and cease operations at the Avonmouth, UK site is subject to consultation with its employees, which has begun. In addition, the process to cease operations at the Nanjing, China site has also begun.
The cash outlay related to the above proposals is expected to be in the range of $5 million to $15 million with payback in approximately one year. As a consequence of these plans, the company would expect to incur a one-time after-tax accounting charge in the range of $80 million to $95 million in the second quarter 2012, which would include costs such as severance, asset write-downs and closure costs. Once these actions are completed, including a restructuring program intended to eliminate costs allocated to the phosphorus business, annual earnings per share should improve by $0.10 to $0.15 per share in 2013.
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