Apparel maker Naigai Co. said Friday it will cut 50 jobs, or about 7 percent of its workforce, through early retirement by the end of this year as part of a new three-year restructuring program.
Naigai said the early retirement is targeted at employees aged between 45 and 58. The firm will book about 1 billion yen in special retirement allowances for the plan, it said.
The early retirement will cost the company about 200 million yen in one-time losses for the year to Jan. 31 if the target is met, it said.
The restructuring program also calls for pulling out of the loss-making night wear and work outerwear businesses and liquidating a sock manufacturing subsidiary in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, by July 31 to shift production abroad.
The decisions were in response to increasing price competition with low-price imports, which have dimmed the subsidiary's business prospects.
The restructuring program will formally take effect Feb. 1. The company hopes to post a group pretax profit of 1.8 billion yen in the year to Jan. 31, 2007, against a group pretax loss of 1.7 billion yen expected for the year to next Jan. 31.