Japan’s Sega Sammy Holdings this week began the process of finding 650 staff to volunteer for retirement as it looks to streamline operations due to hardships resulting from COVID-19.
The voluntary resignation period runs until 25 December and will provide special retirement allowances and re-employment support for those who step forward.
The company announced on 6 November a 33.4% decline in sales for the first six months of the financial year ending 31 March 2021 to JPY110.23 billion (US$1.06 billion), with an operating loss of JPY3.08 billion (US$29.6 million) compared with a profit of JPY14.6 billion (US$140.7 million) in the same period last year.
Its IR business, which includes a 45% share in South Korean foreigner-only casino resort Paradise City in Incheon, reported a 58.9% fall in sales to JPY2.28 billion (US$22.0 million) as a result of COVID-19.
The company said at the time it would look to find 650 full-time employees and contracted employees for voluntary retirement.
“In the view of the great impact on our business inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have established a restructuring committee to transform our structure to one adapted to our external environment,” the company said.
“We will work to, (1) Review the balance sheet for non-business assets; (2) Build an organizational structure that can adapt to changes in the market environment; (3) Cost reductions (reduction target of JPY15 billion) focusing on fixed costs for the entire group.
“Voluntary retirement is believed necessary to realize cost reductions focusing on fixed costs and building a more efficient system in order to achieve an early recovery of profits and sustainable growth in the future.”
It has also been announced that executive remuneration for the company and its group companies will be reduced by between 5% and 30% for the period from November 2020 to March 2021.
