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Standard Register restructuring; 75 jobs to be cut

Dayton-based Standard Register Co. is restructuring again, but this time it comes at the expense of up to 15 percent of the company's work force and shareholders, who will see the company earnings fall and dividends halted.

Contributed photo Dayton-based Standard Register Co. is restructuring again, but this time it comes at the expense of up to 15 percent of the company's work force and shareholders, who will see the company earnings fall and dividends halted.

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By Thomas Gnau, Staff Writer Updated 12:51 PM Monday, January 23, 2012

DAYTON — Standard Register is embarking on a corporate restructuring that will result in the loss of about 75 local workers and wider losses across the company, the business announced Monday.

The restructuring is expected to result in an estimated $45 million in annual savings and the elimination of 12 percent to 15 percent of its work force over the next six to nine months, Standard Register said in a statement.

But the moves will also cut into expected revenues. The restructuring is expected to cut fourth quarter earnings by about $5.5 million, or 11 cents per share. The rest of the restructuring will cut 2012 earnings by about $1.5 million or three cents per share, the company said.

The Dayton-based company focuses on business document, communication and business management products and services.

In a conference call Monday morning to discuss the moves, Joe Morgan, Standard Register’s president and chief executive, said the company is trying to turn toward higher-profit areas, slowly moving away from what Morgan has called Standard Register’s “legacy” business in documents and printing. Morgan has also said in the past that he doesn’t plan to abandon those legacy areas entirely.

“The digital world previously had been something we feared,” Morgan said in the call. “Now, it’s something we embrace.”

Today, Standard Register is focused on what Morgan called helping customers in health care, financial services and commercial and industrial markets with “mission-critical communications.”

Standard Register also said that it will record an actuarial non-cash loss of about $80 million as a result of pension asset performance. To address its pension obligations, Morgan said the company primarily needs improved company operations and an improved economy.

“The majority of the things we can do (about pension obligations) we actually have done,” Morgan said.

When asked by an analyst whether the company will hire an outside financial consultant to advise company leaders — a move companies sometimes make on the road to filing for bankruptcy protection — Morgan said Standard Register leaders always closely watch the business, and he declined further comment.

The company also intends to suspend quarterly shareholder dividends, and it predicted pre-tax losses of $9.6 million to $10.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2011, on predicted revenue of $160 million to $162 million.

Standard Register will report its fourth quarter and year-end earnings Feb. 24.

The company’s shares (NYSE: SR) were down about four cents in early trading Monday, at about $2.49 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $2.26 to $3.58.

The company has about 614 Dayton workers.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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