Facility Closures & Downsizings: Build-A-Bear Closing Up to 60 Stores

Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc., an entertainment retailer, plans to close 50 to 60 stores in fiscal 2013 and 2014 to reach its optimal store count of 225 to 250 stores. These select store closures are expected to transfer approximately 20% of sales to other stores in the same markets.

At quarter end, the St. Louis, MO-based company operated 351 stores -- 283 traditional stores and 10 non-traditional stores in North America and 58 traditional stores in Europe.

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The company expects capital expenditures to be $18 million in fiscal 2012 to support the update and repositioning of stores as well as investment in infrastructure. In fiscal 2012, the company will close nine stores, including certain non-traditional locations, and remodel 14 stores, including five stores in its new design. The company will open five new stores across geographies including one store in its new design.

In the last three months, the company closed three stores across geographies.

For its third quarter ended Sept. 29, Build-A-Bear reported an 11.9% decrease in revenue from a year ago. It reported a net loss of $4.3 million.

"Clearly we are disappointed with the quarter's results. We were up against a difficult comparison from last year when product tied to the theatrical release of the Smurfs led to incremental traffic and transaction growth throughout the quarter. However, we made progress on our key strategies which build on the foundation for our future," said Maxine Clark, Build-A-Bear Workshop's "chief executive bear."

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UBS Cutting 10,000 Jobs

UBS is accelerating its plans to cut costs by further sharpening its focus in investment banking by concentrating on its traditional strengths in advisory, research, equities, FX and precious metals and by exiting business lines, predominantly those in fixed income that have been rendered uneconomical by changes in regulation and market developments.

UBS will reduce costs significantly by cutting 10,000 employees. By 2015, UBS is likely to have a headcount of around 54,000.

Of those being let go, about 4,500 of them will be in London and 3,000 in the U.S. About 2,500 positions are being eliminated in Switzerland, where UBS is based, according to UBS.

About 5,500 of the layoffs will be in the back office and 2,000 will be in the front office including investment bankers. It is unclear where the rest of the cuts will be.

"The strong progress we have made over the last 12 months allows us to begin implementing this next phase of our strategy," said Sergio P. Ermotti UBS Group CEO." We are ahead of schedule in our plans to build additional capital strength and reduce both costs and risk-weighted assets."

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Navistar To Close TX Plant; Layoff 900

Navistar International Corp. intends to close its Garland, TX, truck manufacturing operation as part of its efforts to reduce costs and optimize its manufacturing footprint.

Navistar intends to cease operations at the Garland facility by the first half of 2013.

"Closing a facility is always difficult because of its impact on the many great people who've been part of our company," said Troy Clarke, Navistar president and COO. "But the fact is that Navistar has too much manufacturing capacity in North America and we must take quick action to improve our business and position the company for long-term success."

The Garland facility currently employs approximately 900 salaried, hourly and third party temporary workers.

Truck volume now produced at Garland will transition to other North America operations that currently build similar models beginning in January 2013.

Once completed, the Garland closure is expected to reduce Navistar's operating costs by $25 million to $35 million annually.

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Additional Facility Closures & Downsizings

.	Company	Address	City	State	Closure or Layoff	No. of Layoffs	Impact Date
.	Ricoh Americas	115 Glastonbury Blvd.	Glastonbury	CT	Layoff	57	11/29/2012
.	Maxum Petroleum	20 Horseneck Lane	Greenwich	CT	Closure	64	Immediately
.	SunStream Inc.	The Resort at Marina Village, 5951 Silver King Blvd.	Cape Coral	FL	Unknown	202	12/13/2012
.	CCS Medical	14255 49th St., N., Suite 301	Clearwater	FL	Unknown	82	12/3/2012
.	Kmart Store	4645 Blanding Blvd.	Jacksonville	FL	Unknown	83	1/20/2013
.	Van Ru Credit Corp.	8550 Ulmerton Road., Suite 225	Largo	FL	Unknown	66	12/31/2012
.	Kmart Store	1000 Missouri Ave.	Largo	FL	Unknown	52	1/6/2013
.	Sears Holdings	9405 W. Colonial Drive	Ocoee	FL	Unknown	87	1/23/2013
.	PDM Bridge	211 Comfort Road	Palatka	FL	Unknown	36	12/10/2012
.	Kmart Store	4211 Mobile Highway	Pensacola	FL	Unknown	69	1/20/2013
.	Transamerica Life Insurance	570 Carillon Pkwy	St. Petersburg	FL	Unknown	96	1/2/2013
.	US Foods, Inc.	3031 N. Rocky Point Drive, W.	Tampa	FL	Unknown	25	1/4/2013
.	United Space Alliance	1102 John Glenn Blvd.	Titusville	FL	Unknown	304	12/7/2012
.	Amsted Rail Inc	4831 Hohman Ave.	Hammond	IN	Layoff	94	12/17/2012
.	Sinful Colors	10721 Tucker St.	Beltsville	MD	Closure	117	1/1/2013
.	Human Genome Sciences	14200 Shady Grove Road	Rockville	MD	Layoff	97	12/15/2012
.	TE Connectivity	1187 Park Place	Shakopee	MN	Unknown	150	11/14/2012
.	Embassy Suites	1701 E. 12th St.	Cleveland	OH	Closure	108	12/10/2012
.	Skillsoft	5500 Glendon Court, Suite 200	Dublin	OH	Closure	75	12/5/2012
.	Ryder	6200 Commerce Center Drive	Groveport	OH	Closure	57	12/17/2012
.	Exel Inc.	6700 Port Road	Groveport	OH	Closure	102	1/1/2013
.	Morton Salt	5200 Headlands Road	Painesville	OH	Layoff	44	10/15/2012
.	Elder-Beerman	1475 Upper Valley Pike	Springfield	OH	Closure	40	1/13/2012
.	M & M Restaurant Supply	1015 New York Ave.	Toledo	OH	Closure	105	12/9/2012
.	Rubbermaid	999 Akron Road	Wooster	OH	Closure	62	12/21/2012
.	Boise White Paper	1300 Kaster Road	St. Helens	OR	Layoff	106	12/31/2012
.	Strayer University	14200 Park Meadow Drive	Chantilly	VA	Closure	61	12/14/2012
.	Money Mailer	221 Progress Way	Franklin	VA	Closure	72	1/30/2013
.	Kurz-Kasch	1222 Seymour Drive	South Boston	VA	Closure	59	12/14/2012
.	Draper Valley Holdings	600 SW 7th St.	Renton	WA	Layoff	66	12/7/2012
.	APS Healthcare	300 N. Executive Drive, Suite 300	Brookfield	WI	Layoff	133	Immediately
.	Allstate Insurance	1850 Ludden Drive	Cross Plains	WI	Closure	214	12/31/2012
.	Silgan Containers	N90 W14600 Commerce Drive	Menomonee Falls	WI	Layoff	38	12/1/2012
.	Milwaukee Wyndham	4747 S. Howell Ave.	Milwaukee	WI	Closure	133	12/22/2012

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