Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) announced plans to reduce its workforce by 10 percent and to consolidate its facilities to cut expenses after the company failed to meet its revenue expectations for 2012.
Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS), the toy manufacture, released its preliminary results and expects to report earnings of around $2.73 to $2.75 per share excluding restructuring on revenue of around $4.09 billion for the entire year. According to the company, the result includes approximately $0.10 per share negative impact from foreign exchange. In 2011, Hasbro’s reported $2.82 earnings per share on a revenue of $4.29 billion.
Analysts expected the company to post $2.85 earnings per share and $4.21 billion revenue.
Brian Goldner, CEO of Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) said, “We had a number of strong product initiatives, but consumer demand through much of the holiday season was less than anticipated in both the U. S. and certain international markets. As a result, fourth quarter revenues did not meet our expectations. Despite the lower than anticipated revenue, we grew our operating profit margin and earnings per share absent fourth quarter restructuring charges and the impact of foreign exchange.”
Goldberg said, the company created a strategy to focus on global initiatives and enhance its shareholder returns. Hasbro also developed a plan to deliver $100 million of annual cost savings by 2015.
Hasbro, Inc. also expects to incur approximately $37 million pre-tax charges in 2012 and around $20 to $30 million in charges related to its expense reduction strategies including its workforce reduction, facility consolidation, and process improvements this year.
“We fundamentally believe our strategy is sound and we remain confident in our ability to drive profitable long-term growth through brand innovation. We believe a reduction in ongoing costs in a challenging environment will deliver the greatest long-term return to our shareholders,” said Hasbro’s chief financial officer, Den Thomas.
Analysts from Wells Fargo Equity Research believe Hasbro’s exposure to highly structurally challenged categories Games/Puzzles (27 percent of sales), tough comparison, and incremental comparison in Actions Figures, and being behind in the curve in addressing company-specific structural cost are collectively resulting in the company’s performance, trailing primary competitors such as Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT) and Lego.
In addition, the analysts believe that Hasbro’s Action Figure comps will ease this year, but new competitors will pressure the sales of its Boys by ~43 percent and Games/Puzzles businesses.
According to analysts, its dividend is secure and they are confident that it would provide a downside support as the company works through challenges this year ahead of a more promising entertainment in 2014 led by Transformers and Star Wars in 2015.
The stock price of the company is down by almost 3 percent to $37.32 a share as of this writing.
