Pergo, the Swedish flooring manufacturer, announced last week the resignation of Staffan Söderqvist from the CFO and Deputy CEO positions.The company gave no reason for his departure in announcing the resignation.
Söderqvist will retain however his position as CFO until the end of January 2006.
In mid-October, the company reported net sales of SEK 2,199 million (EUR 229 million), an operating profit of SEK 42 million (EUR 4.38 million) and a profit after tax of SEK 33 million (EUR 3.44 million) for the nine months ended September 30, 2005.
The company improved its year-on-year performance in Q3 and announced it is on track with the European improvement program, which targets annualized cost savings of SEK 100 million. "We will begin to realize some of the benefits of our lower cost model in Q4 with the full SEK 100 million improvement to be realized in 2006," said Tony Sturrus, CEO of Pergo.
The European improvement program announced in July 2005 includes a reduction of approximately 25 % of the European workforce (appr. 120 employees) which is subject to agreement and negotiations with the unions. The reductions are necessary to improve market competitiveness and overall financial performance in Europe, the company said.
The main focus of the program is to reduce corporate and fixed overheads, improve productivity and create global synergies in purchasing, information technology as well as product design and development. Of the approximately 120 employees that are affected by the program, about 75 employees are based in Sweden. When the program is fully implemented, Pergo will have approximately a total staff of 625 people.
Pergo developed laminate flooring at the end of the 1970s and launched the product in Europe during the 1980s. The company started sales in the US in 1994 and later also in Asia (1995) and Latin America (1997).
