Toronto, Ontario, March 13, 2006--Sears Canada, the target of a privatization bid by its U.S. parent company, is eliminating about 190 jobs at distribution centers in two Ontario communities and isn't ruling out the possibility of more layoffs.
"I don't want to say that we expect them, but we're continually reviewing our business to look for opportunities, and it is possible that staff reductions could be a part of that," spokesman Vincent Power said Friday. He said the latest cuts--100 in Belleville and 90 in Vaughan, just north of Toronto--are part of the Toronto-based retailer's continuing operational review and were announced internally on Thursday.
"We did say that we would be looking at all our operations with a closer eye," Power said.
"In those facilities we've made some improvements to processes and procedures over the past few years and a more current review of our staffing ... shows that we were able make some reductions."
The warehouse complex in Belleville, the company's largest in Canada, has 1,500 employees.
Other cuts, totalling about 40 people, are planned at four other Sears operations in Montreal, Regina, Calgary and Vancouver.
Last fall, Sears Canada slashed 1,200 jobs across the country to create annualized savings of about $100 million and improve productivity.
A retail analyst, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said future cuts would likely occur in Sears Canada's back-office staff and suggested that store closures could be next if the retailer is privatized.
Power said Thursday's cuts were unrelated to the $835.4-million offer from Sears Holdings Corp., for the 46.2 per cent of the Canadian subsidiary it does not already own.
The directors of Sears Canada have advised minority stockholders to reject the $16.86-per-share offer which expires March 17, arguing it falls more than $2 per share below the appropriate valuation.
Sears Holdings' proposal is already backed by Sears Canada's second-largest shareholder, Natcan Investment Management Inc., which owns about 9.06 per cent of the company.
Chris Brathwaite, spokesman for Illinois-based Sears Holdings, declined comment Friday when asked about the possibility of a sweetened bid.
