Colgate Sets Early Retirement Plan

Colgate-Palmolive Co. unveiled a new voluntary early retirement program for U.S. employees and will record about 10% of planned charges from its four-year restructuring plan for the buyouts.
   Colgate said the size of associated charges would depend on which employees elect to participate.
    The company’s restructuring plan unveiled in December 2004 and includes cutting about 12% of the company’s total work force and closing about one-third of its factories.
    The New York-based company previously estimated that after-tax charges from the restructuring plan should total $550 million to $650 million.
The company noted that savings from the retirement program are already included in its target of $250 million to $300 million in after-tax savings per year by the fourth year of the restructuring.