A. Schulman Announces Two Restructuring Actions in Americas: Will Close Stryker, OH Plant

A. Schulman, Inc.

announced today that it is consolidating its North American production facilities. As part of its ongoing review of its manufacturing footprint, the Company will close its plant in Stryker, Ohio, in April 2015 and shift the plant's production to other facilities in North America. The Stryker plant has been producing products primarily for markets in the United States and Mexico. It employs approximately 70 people and was part of A. Schulman's acquisition of the Ferro Specialty Plastics Business, which was completed in July 2014. Additionally, the Company announced that it is making SG&A reductions in North America as part of its ongoing effort to drive further synergies from recent acquisitions and eliminate duplicate functions. As a result of this effort, the Company expects headcount reductions at various locations to total approximately 10 people. "While demand remains strong in the U.S., our recent acquisitions have added seven plants over the past three years. Based on our evaluation of a variety of factors including capacity utilization, location and laboratory and manufacturing capabilities, we have decided to consolidate our North American production capacity to drive efficiencies," said Bernard Rzepka, Chief Operating Officer. "This is a difficult decision, but the consolidation illustrates our enduring commitment to right-sizing our global capacity to best serve customers and allow for profitable growth in key markets. In addition to evaluating our manufacturing footprint, we continually look for other ways to improve efficiency and have identified further opportunities to achieve additional savings by streamlining our back office operations in the U.S." The majority of the costs associated with the manufacturing consolidation, approximately $2.5 million, are expected to be included in the Company's financial results for the fiscal 2015 first quarter ending November 30, 2014. The annualized savings, approximately $3 million, will be realized in the second half of fiscal 2015.  A portion of these savings were part of the previously stated $5.5 million in net synergies related to the acquisition of Ferro's Specialty Plastics business. The majority of the SG&A efficiency costs, approximately $500,000, are expected to occur in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, while the annualized savings, approximately $1 million, will start to be realized in the Company's second quarter of fiscal 2015.