Hasbro to cut jobs after weak quarter

NEWARK, N.J. — Hasbro, wrestling with the demise of Toys R Us and with elusive shoppers spending a lot more on high-tech gadgets, fell well short of third-quarter expectations Monday and said it will cut jobs to reduce costs.

The toy maker, whose brands include Monopoly and Play-Doh, did not specify the number of layoffs but said they will affect a “midsingle digit” percentage of its worldwide workforce. Hasbro had about 5,400 employees at the end of last year; a 5 percent cut would put the layoffs at about 270 jobs. Hasbro said it will absorb accounting charges of as much as $60 million in the next quarter related to paying severance.

Mattel, Hasbro’s rival, said in July that it planned to cut more than 2,200 jobs. Both toy makers have acknowledged disruption this year by the shuttering of the stores of Toys R Us, the largest independent toy seller in the world.

It is the first full quarter that the company has been without Toys R Us as a customer.

“We continue to believe this is a near-term retail disruption that will last for the next few quarters,” Chairman and CEO Brian Goldner said during a conference call.

Sales of games and toys at bricks-and-mortar stores fell in the quarter, but Goldner said that online point-of-sale climbed by a high-single-digit percentage.

Hasbro Inc.’s thirdquarter earnings slipped to $263.9 million, or $2.06 per share. Adjusted for pretax gains, per-share earnings were $1.93, far below Wall Street projections for per-share earnings of $2.24, according to a survey by Zacks Investment Research.

Revenue of $1.57 billion also missed analyst expectations for $1.71 billion. Hasbro experienced a 24 percent drop in international revenue, with Europe falling 29 percent, Latin America 16 percent and the Asia Pacific region 14 percent.

Shares fell 3 percent Monday to close at $95.01.