SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Date of Report (Date of Earliest Event Reported) April 2, 2001
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
Delaware 1-815 51-0014090
(State or Other Jurisdiction (Commission (I.R.S Employer
of Incorporation) File Number) Identification No.)
1007 Market Street
Wilmington, Delaware 19898
(Address of principal executive offices)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (302) 774-1000
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Item 5. Other Events
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The Registrant files, pursuant to Regulation FD, its news release
dated April 2, 2001, entitled "DuPont Plans Targeted Reductions To Improve
Competitiveness" a copy of which is below. This news release is also filed
in connection with Debt and/or Equity Securities that may be offered on a
delayed or continuous basis under Registration Statements on Form S-3
(No. 33-53327, No. 33-61339, No. 33-60069 and No. 333-86363).
Contact: Clif Webb
302-774-4005
r-clifton.webb@usa.dupont.com
DuPont Plans Targeted Reductions To Improve Competitiveness
WILMINGTON, Del., April 2, 2001 -- DuPont today announced it will
further align resources consistent with the specific missions of its
individual businesses. These actions will reduce the company's global
employee workforce by about 4,000, or 4 percent. DuPont will also reduce the
number of contract personnel by about 1,300 and shut down less competitive
manufacturing assets.
"Taking actions that result in people losing their jobs is the
hardest decision we as leaders will ever have to make," said DuPont Chairman
and CEO Charles O. Holliday, Jr." However, we are doing what is necessary to
assure the competitiveness of our individual businesses and the performance
of DuPont as a whole."
Responding to weakening business conditions in the U.S. apparel and
textile markets, DuPont will accelerate the rationalization of its polyester
and nylon fiber businesses to improve financial performance. This will
result in a combined polyester and nylon reduction of about 2,000 employees -
or about half of the total company employee reductions. Specific actions
are:
-- In the Polyester Enterprise, the polyester filaments business unit
will accelerate the benefits of its manufacturing alliance with Unifi
Corporation by shutting down older filaments manufacturing operations and
transferring production to lower cost, more modern and flexible assets. In
addition, other polyester manufacturing operations will be streamlined to
assure a sustainable competitive cost position.
-- In the Nylon Enterprise, the apparel segment will continue its
previously announced strategy of focusing on differentiated products and
modernizing its manufacturing assets. As a result, the company will shut
down less competitive production lines.
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Other DuPont business units are taking focused actions to improve
profitability consistent with their specific revenue, earnings and cash
objectives. The most significant of these are:
-- The company's agriculture-related businesses - Pioneer, Crop Protec-
tion and Nutrition & Health - will accelerate their integration of R&D, staff
and commercial organizations.
-- The "Lycra" business will reduce manpower at U.S. and European
facilities to realize efficiency gains enabled by its new technology plat-
forms. These platforms include significantly advanced and more productive
spinning technology to be used in previously announced capacity expansions in
South America and Asia.
-- Internal staff support services will reduce positions commensurate
with restructurings across the businesses they support.
"We are very sensitive to our employees' feelings and concerns,"
Holliday said. "We will continue to look for redeployment opportunities for
as many employees as possible, and will help other employees transition to
new careers outside of the company. We recognize and appreciate their many
contributions to DuPont."
Approximately 75 percent of the affected employees and contractors
are in the United States. Projected annual payroll savings, including
reduction in contractor costs, are on the order of $400 million pre-tax.
DuPont expects to achieve about one-third of the projected cost benefit in
2001, and substantially all in 2002.
DuPont expects to take a one-time second quarter charge of approxi-
mately 40-45 cents per share as a result of these actions. Roughly half of
this estimated charge will be for employee severance costs, with the
remainder principally for asset shutdowns and related dismantlement expenses.
Since plans are still being finalized, the actual one-time charge to earnings
will not be available until the end of the second quarter.
"These actions will enable us to more rapidly achieve our goal of
sustainable growth," said Holliday. "While reducing resources in some busi-
nesses, we are adding resources in a number of long-term growth markets - for
example, telecommunications, electronic displays and bio-based materials - as
well as in fast growing countries such as China. Across DuPont, each
business is doing what it needs to do to be successful, consistent with
customer needs. We will be a stronger company as a result."
DuPont is a science company, delivering science-based solutions that
make a difference in people's lives in food and nutrition; health care;
apparel; home and construction; electronics; and transportation. Founded in
1802, the company operates in 70 countries and has 93,000 employees.
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Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking
statements based on management's current expectations, estimates and
projections. All statements that address expectations or projections about
the future, including statements about the company's strategy for growth,
product development, market position, expected expenditures and financial
results are forward-looking statements. Some of the forward-looking
statements may be identified by words like "expects," "anticipates," "plans,"
"intends," "projects," "indicates," and similar expressions. These
statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of
risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors, including those
discussed more fully elsewhere in this release and in documents filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission by DuPont, particularly its latest
annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q, as well as
others, could cause results to differ materially from those stated. These
factors include, but are not limited to changes in the laws, regulations,
policies and economic conditions, including inflation, interest and foreign
currency exchange rates, of countries in which the company does business;
competitive pressures; successful integration and structural changes,
including restructuring plans, acquisitions, divestitures and alliances; cost
of raw materials, research and development of new products, including
regulatory approval and market acceptance; and seasonality of sales of
agricultural products.
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4/2/01
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SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf
by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY
(Registrant)
/s/ D. B. Smith
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D. B. Smith
Assistant Controller
April 2, 2001
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