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Empresas y finanzas

Steelcase Q1 results better than expected


    (Reuters) - Steelcase Inc , the world's largest office furniture maker, posted a surprise quarterly profit as it benefited from its cost-cutting measures, and said it will cut an additional 200 jobs globally.

    The company said it will also consolidate a number of smaller manufacturing facilities across its global operations and expects annual savings of about $30 million.

    The company sees total restructuring charges of $25 million, pretax, in fiscal 2010.

    For the first quarter ended May 29, net income was breakeven compared with a profit of $22.1 million, or 16 cents a share, a year earlier. Operating expenses fell 20 percent to $161 million.

    Revenue fell 33 percent to $545.6 million, but topped analysts' consensus view of $543.4 million.

    According to Reuters Estimates, Steelcase earned 2 cents a share, excluding items, compared with analysts' consensus estimate of a loss of 13 cents.

    For the second quarter, the company expects to report net income of about breakeven on revenue of $600 million.

    Analysts were looking for a loss of 4 cents a share, before items, on revenue of $610 million.

    Over the past year, Steelcase has cut jobs and salaries, consolidated facilities and halved dividend to cut costs as weak demand has taken a toll on the office furniture maker.

    Shares of the company closed at $5.06 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.

    (Reporting by A.Ananthalakshmi in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak Kannan)