Lexington, KY - Lexmark International, Inc. (NYSE: LXK) said Tuesday that it will report weaker than expected fourth-quarter operating results as the demand of printing and imaging equipments decline amid challenging global economic environment.

The Lexington, Kentucky-based company said it is being forced to implement a new restructure plan this year that would affect as many as 375 employees and result in pre-tax charges of about $45 million. It currently expects total annualized cost savings of $50 million when the restructuring is completed.

The decision comes just two weeks ahead of the company's release its fourth-quarter earnings. The company has around 3,000 employees at its global headquarters in Kentucky. The company provides businesses and consumers in over 150 countries with a range of printing and imaging products, solutions and services.

Lexmark said it now expects a 17 percent drop in its sales revenue in the fourth quarter from the same period a year earlier. In January 2008, Lexmark reported fourth-quarter revenue of $1.31 billion, with a full year sales of $4.97 billion.

The previous revenue estimate in October by the company for the quarter was in the low to mid teens range as "revenue has been negatively impacted by lower laser and inkjet hardware unit sales and currency rate shifts during the quarter."

Earnings for the fourth quarter will be in the range of 19 cents per share to 24 cents per share. The company's operating income was primarily negatively impacted by "significant currency rate shifts during the quarter." In the same quarter last year, earnings were at $1.04 per share, including 25 cents per share for restructuring-related activities.

While, restructuring related charges will be about 52 cents per share, which is about 22 cents per share higher than expected in the October 2008 outlook.

The company's fourth quarter results are expected to include a tax benefit of about 30 cents per share.

Excluding restructuring charges, the overall quarter's earnings will be between 71 cents per share to 76 cents per share, compared to its previous anticipation of 70 cents per share to 80 cents per share.

The market analysts on Wall Street expected the firm to post a profit of 80 cents per share on average basis in same period.

Looking ahead, the company will be affected by the same factors in the first quarter of fiscal 2009 as the market segment has not showed any signs of improvement, pushing down its revenue in the range of the mid to high teens percentage.

Lexmark's first quarter earnings would be around 52 cents per share to 62 cents per share. Excluding restructuring linked charges of 13 cents, the earnings could be in the range of 65 cents per share to 75 cents per share.

Shares of the company were sharply moving down by $2.35 or 8.29 percent to $26.00 in pre-market session on Tuesday, after the company disclosed the earnings estimate data. The stock had closed down at $28.35 in the previous session. It has traded between $22.13 and $37.88 in the last 52-week period.

Source: http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/2948170