The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. 2009 Annual Report

NOTE 7 - CHARGES ASSOCIATED WITH RESTRUCTURING ACTIVITIES
In an effort to drive down costs and achieve synergies within the organization, in February 2009, the Company announced the implementation of a multi-faceted cost savings program (the "Program") to position itself to achieve long-term profitable growth. The Company anticipates the Program will result in related restructuring and other special charges in fiscal 2009 and over the next few fiscal years totaling between $350 million and $450 million before taxes.

The Program focuses on a redesign of the Company's organizational structure in order to integrate it in a more cohesive way and operate more globally across brands and functions. The principal aspect of the Program is the reduction of the workforce by approximately 2,000 employees. Specific actions taken during fiscal 2009 included:

  • Resize and Reorganize the Organization-The Company began the realignment and optimization of its organization to better leverage scale, improve productivity and reduce complexity in each region and across various functions. This included reduction of the workforce, which occurred through the consolidation of certain functions through a combination of normal attrition and job eliminations, and a rationalization of manufacturing capacity via the scheduled closure of one of the Company's manufacturing and assembly plants.
  • Exit Unprofitable Operations-To improve the profitability in certain of the Company's brands and regions, the Company has selectively exited certain channels of distribution, categories and markets. In doing so, the Company incurred costs to reduce workforce, terminate contracts, write off fixed assets and discontinue certain product lines and stock-keeping units.
  • Outsourcing-In order to balance the growing need for information technology support with the Company's efforts to provide the most efficient and cost effective solutions, the Company initiated the outsourcing of certain information technology processes. The Company incurred costs to eliminate certain related headcount and to transition services to an outsource provider.
  • For the year ended June 30, 2009, aggregate restructuring charges of $70.3 million were recorded in the accompanying consolidated statements of earnings related to the Program. These charges primarily reflected employeerelated costs, asset write-offs, contract terminations and other exit costs.

    The following table presents the restructuring activity as of and for the year ended June 30, 2009 under the Program:

    Accrued restructuring charges at June 30, 2009 are expected to result in cash expenditures funded from cash provided by operations of approximately $48 million, $6 million and $1 million in fiscal 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively.

    The total amount of restructuring charges incurred plus other initiatives approved through June 30, 2009, include approximately $75 million for employee-related costs, approximately $6 million in asset write-offs and approximately $8 million of contract terminations and other exit costs.

    The Company incurred other special charges in connection with the implementation of the Program for the year ended June 30, 2009 of $10.1 million related to consulting, other professional services, and accelerated depreciation. The total amount of other special charges expected to be incurred to implement these initiatives, including those incurred through June 30, 2009, is approximately $36 million. In addition to the other special charges, the Company recorded $8.1 million reflecting sales returns (less a related cost of sales of $1.2 million) and a write-off of inventory associated with exiting unprofitable operations of $8.0 million.

    During the year ended June 30, 2009, the Company recorded a gain of $3.6 million related to excess accruals that were recorded as other special charges in prior years.

    Total charges associated with restructuring activities included in operating income for the year ended June 30, 2009 were $91.7 million.