Ikon Office to Cut 250 Jobs, Take Charge

(Reuters) – Office equipment distributor Ikon Office Solutions (IKN) said it will cut about 265 jobs in the United States to reduce costs.

In a regulatory filing, the company said its board has also approved a plan to reduce the number of its Off-site Managed Services business (LDS) locations in the United States to 47, as well as close its sole LDS location in Europe, reducing headcount by a further 50.

The company expects related pre-tax charges of about $7 million, a significant portion of which is expected to be taken in the fourth quarter.

Ikon also expects after-tax cash expenditures of about $4 million, which consist primarily of severance payments and lease termination costs.

Ikon, which was one of the world’s largest independent distributor of office equipment , recently agreed to be acquired by Ricoh Co Ltd (7752.T) for $1.6 billion.

Shares of the Malvern, Pennsylvania-based company were trading almost flat at $17.13 Thursday morning on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Biswarup Gooptu in Bangalore; Editing by Pratish Narayanan)

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