Cardinal Health cutting 600 jobs

Health care products and services company Cardinal Health Inc. said Tuesday that it plans to cut 600 jobs, or about 1.5 percent of its global work force, and consolidate its business into two primary segments.

The company plans to group its product distribution centers and nuclear pharmacies into one group and its medical products into another. Chairman and Chief Executive R. Kerry Clark said the changes would save money and make the company more efficient.

The company will take a $63 million charge to pay for the restructuring. The cuts will include 160 positions that are currently open and will not be filled.

Cardinal Health, based in the Columbus suburb of Dublin, employs about 40,000 people on five continents. Employees whose jobs are eliminated will be offered severance benefits, according to the company.

Goldman Sachs analyst Randall Stanicky continued recommending the company's stock to investors, reaffirming a "Buy" rating following the announcement.

"Bottom line, this reorganization primarily impacts reporting and accounting rather than fundamentals," he said, in a note to investors.

The move could also provide more insight into the company's future strategy by highlighting the parts of the business that are up for sale. It also serves to further separate the struggling drug distribution business from the company's more successful medical products business.

Sales of the company's Medicine Shoppe and Pharmacy Services units could bring in up to $1 billion in proceeds, Stanicky said.

Cardinal Health shares rose $1.06, or 2.1 percent, to $51.70 Tuesday.

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On the Net:

http://www.cardinalhealth.com