Courier Corp. announced Tuesday that it will close its printing plant in Stoughton, Mass. on April 30. The facility, Courier’s smallest and which employs 110 people, focused primarily on manufacturing one-color books, mainly paperbacks. The demand for paperbacks has fallen in recent years and Courier has put more of its resources into four-color production using equipment that can do shorter, more efficient print runs.
In connection with the closing, Courier estimates pre-tax restructuring costs of approximately $6 million for severance, pension withdrawal liabilities and other expenses. In addition, the facility’s lease obligates Courier to pay $2.7 million through 2015, although the company is pursuing options to reduce those costs. Overall, Courier expects the cash impact of the closing to be approximately $3 million over the remainder of fiscal 2011 with the majority of the remaining cash impact spread over 5-20 years.
Commenting on the closing Courier chairman James F. Conway said, “I deeply regret having to close this long-time Courier facility, but after due deliberation we are convinced that it is the only available solution to bring our one-color capacity in line with today’s economy.
