Job cuts come to DG’s HQ

Dollar General is rightsizing its expense structure by eliminating several hundred positions at its home office.

Dollar General said that effective immediately it had eliminated 255 positions but noted that 115 of those positions were vacant. The move follows an announcement the previous week by Walmart to eliminate 450 positions at its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters. Dollar General said the move was part of a broader initiative aimed at proactively improving efficiencies and reducing expenses by restructuring its corporate support functions.

“Over the last several months, we have taken a hard look at our cost structure and are streamlining our support functions to improve our financial flexibility while positioning us to better serve our customers and to capitalize on long-term growth opportunities. This restructuring should allow us to continue strengthening our market leadership position and deliver long-term value for our shareholders,” said Todd Vasos, Dollar General’s CEO.

The layoffs are expected to result in a pre-tax cash expense of approximately $7 million the company said it would incur in the third quarter of 2015 for one-time severance-related benefits.

The company went on to note that store level positions at its roughly 12,000 locations would not be affected, but also made clear that expense control is top of mind at the company.

“Looking ahead to fiscal 2016, Dollar General expects to continue its expense control and reduction initiative by implementing a more rigorous budgeting process that will target cost savings in specific budget categories,” the company said in a statement.