Weider Lays Off A Few Employees

SALT LAKE CITY--Weider Nutrition International (NYSE:WNI) confirmed today that it has laid off a small percentage of employees in an effort to reduce costs. The exact number of laid off employees was not disclosed, but company management put the number at less than 20. Weider has more than 800 employees.

Joe Baty, chief financial officer, explained that the move was a "minor fine tuning of [Weider's]overall infrastructure." Despite the recent troubles with the company's Venice Beach brand sportswear business, no specific area of the company was targeted, according to Baty. "[The layoffs] were across the board; they touched most aspects of the company, even if only a little bit," he confirmed.

The cuts come after two consecutive quarters of net losses in the second and third quarters. First quarter 2001 saw a small net gain thanks to a $3 million litigation settlement. "We are just trying to adjust given what is happening in the industry and with our business," Baty said.

The personnel reduction also comes on the heels of Weider's sale of its powder manufacturing facilities, another move to reduce costs. The $5.5 million cash transaction with Cornerstone Nutritional Labs LC, also based here, is expected to help Weider reduce its investment base and debt with no increase in product costs.

Weider downplayed the significance of the staff cutbacks. "This is not a major event in our minds; certainly nothing along the lines that happened at Natrol, Twinlab and Leiner," Baty said. He added that the company does not anticipate further layoffs but acknowledged that they are a part of ongoing business, especially in tough periods. "From time to time all companies look at their cost structure and continuously search for ways to do things more efficiently at less cost, without any loss in quality of course," Baty stated. "It is nothing beyond that."