Carlton Mexico Closure Will Cost $12M to $16M

American Greetings Corp. said Thursday that the closure of its Carlton Mexico unit would cost $12 million to $16 million in severance pay, write-downs and other expenses.

Carlton Mexico distributed greeting cards, gift wrap and other items in Mexico.

The shutdown will result in a loss of 170 jobs.

The Cleveland-based greeting card company said it would spend $1 million to $2 million in employee termination costs and incur $5 million to $6 million in write-downs. It would also have $6 million to $8 million in other related charges, mostly currency translation.

American Greetings expects to record the charges during the fiscal year that ends in February 2010.

Its shares rose 6 cents to $14.02 in regular trading Thursday.

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