Armstrong World Industries said it plans to close the Holmsund, Sweden, plant that manufactures heterogeneous vinyl flooring during the fourth quarter of this year. In combination with the previously announced closure of the company's plant in Teesside, UK, the restructuring is expected to impact 520 jobs across Europe, or 38 percent of Armstrong's European flooring workforce, the company said.

“We deeply regret that we cannot achieve a sustainable business structure without affecting our employees,” said Frank J. Ready, Armstrong World Industries' exec. vp. “We are committed to our employees and we will do our best to act in the balanced interest of our staff, company, customers and shareholders. We have a clear goal in front of us: we want to be the market leader of specialized flooring in selected markets with a solid foundation for achieving sustainable profitable growth by 2013.”

Armstrong said it will concentrate on its European flooring manufacturing operations in Germany and continue to make linoleum and homogeneous vinyl flooring for the commercial market in its Delmenhorst and Bietigheim plants, respectively.