Business
School Specialty Announces Its Fiscal 2015 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results
School Specialty Announces Its Fiscal 2015 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results.
About this update from School Speciality Inc
[{"type":"text","content":"\nGREENVILLE, Wis., July 9, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- School Specialty, Inc. (OTCQB:SCOO) (\"School Specialty\", \"SSI\" or \"the Company\"), a leading distributor of supplies, furniture and both curriculum and supplemental learning resources to the education marketplace, today announced its fiscal 2015 fourth quarter and year-end results for the period ended April 25, 2015 (\"fiscal 2015\"). The Company will be hosting a teleconference and webcast tomorrow, July 10, 2015 at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss its results of operations and outlook.\n\n\tJoseph M. Yorio, President and Chief Executive Officer of School Specialty stated, \"While our results came in below plan, our revenue has stabilized, and we are much better positioned for profitable growth. In our core products areas, recent changes to our merchandising, marketing and selling strategies have begun to yield positive results and we believe SSI is positioned to experience organic growth in the coming years. In fiscal 2015, we made significant changes to our organization: integrating core support functions; enhancing our operations and supply chain structure; and realigning our merchandising, marketing and sales teams. By establishing a \"one-SSI\" operating structure, we were able to right size the organization in the fourth quarter and lower headcount by nearly 19%. Through cost reduction initiatives executed in fiscal 2015, we estimate that our current cost structure is approximately $15 million lower than fiscal 2014, net of reinvestments we have made and other changes in the business. Importantly, our departments are more efficient and the new operating structure is clearly facilitating a collaborative focus on growth initiatives, a better customer experience and improved bottom-line performance. Finally, based on the significantly improved productivity we are currently experiencing in our fulfillment centers, we are well positioned to deliver for our customers in the current peak season. \"\n\n\tMr. Yorio continued, \"From a revenue perspective, there were a number of positive highlights for the year. Our core supply business was stable and several categories, such as Furniture and AV/Tech, showed modest growth. Growth in our Science business more than offset lower sales in Reading; however, Reading is developing some exciting enhancements to its product line and we expect...