Lexmark laying off 143 in Lexington

Lexmark, one of the city’s biggest employers, plans to lay off 143 workers in Lexington beginning May 25, according to a notice filed with the city. The layoffs will be permanent, the notice said.

Lexmark International Inc. is not closing the Lexington campus, which employs about 2,300 people, according to the notice.

Kevin Atkins, chief development officer for Mayor Jim Gray, said the mayor’s office contacted Lexmark officials “offering to work with those employees affected by today’s announced layoffs.”

Lexmark spokesman Jerry Grasso said the company would not comment on human resource matters.

In February, Lexmark announced a restructuring that would eliminate 550 positions, or about 4 percent of its work force, worldwide over the next year; some of the jobs are to be shifted to lower-cost countries, the company said.

Those cuts came on top of 500 job cuts announced in July.

The restructuring is expected to save the company $67 million in 2016 and $100 million beginning in 2017.

Lexmark reported fourth-quarter and year-end earnings in February. Quarterly revenue was down more than 5 percent, but the gross profit margin rose from 35.2 percent to 39.8 percent. Earnings per share were up slightly in 2015.

The restructuring comes amid reports that Lexmark is considering selling its printer hardware and information software operations separately; according to Bloomberg, the company has received offers for the software operations, which include Perceptive Software, ReadSoft and Kofax.

This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 12:03 PM with the headline "Lexmark laying off 143 in Lexington."