Specialty chemicals maker Rohm and Haas Co. today announced it will cut another 900 jobs, idle or close underutilized plants and freeze salaries and discretionary spending in response to the weakening economy.

The actions follow the layoff of 937 employees, primarily in North America, last June. The second round of restructuring actions, which will cut another 5 percent of its work force, is expected to result in $90 million in pre-tax and asset impairment charges in the fourth quarter of 2008, the company said, but are expected to deliver about $90 million in pre-tax savings. Most affected will be commercial-related positions directly impacted by lower market demand.

Rohm and Haas makes chemicals used in industries including electronics and electronic devices, construction, transportation, medicine, pharmaceutical products, and industrial processing. It creates surfaces for semiconductor chips and provides lithography techniques to improve the speed and power of semiconductor devices and integrated materials and surface finishing processes for electronics, optoelectronics and industrial applications. Its Display Technologies unit produces advanced films that improve the brightness and efficiency of LCDs and develops organic LED (OLED) materials.

"Our actions today are intended to adjust our operations to current business conditions, which reflect softening markets worldwide. We will continue to control costs in order to compete effectively, while preserving our capacity to accelerate performance when markets recover," said Pierre R. Brondeau, president and chief operating officer.

The company said it expects adjusted earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2008 to exceed analyst estimates.

For more information, visit: www.rohmhaas.com