RESTRUCTURING CHARGES

6 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Restructuring and Related Activities [Abstract]

In November 2019, Griffon announced the development of a next-generation business platform for CPP to enhance the growth, efficiency, and competitiveness of its U.S. operations, and on November 12, 2020, Griffon announced that CPP is broadening this strategic initiative to include additional North American facilities, the AMES UK and Australia businesses, and a manufacturing facility in China.

The expanded focus of this initiative leverages the same three key development areas being executed within our U.S. operations. First, certain AMES global operations will be consolidated to optimize facilities footprint and talent. Second, strategic investments in automation and facilities expansion will be made to increase the efficiency of our manufacturing and fulfillment operations, and support e-commerce growth. Third, multiple independent information systems will be unified into a single data and analytics platform, which will serve the whole AMES global enterprise.

Expanding the roll-out of the new business platform from our AMES U.S. operations to include AMES’ global operations will extend the duration of the project by one year, with completion now expected by the end of calendar year 2023. When fully implemented, these actions will result in annual cash savings of $30,000 to $35,000 and a reduction in inventory of $30,000 to $35,000, both based on fiscal 2020 operating levels.

The cost to implement this new business platform, over the duration of the project, will include one-time charges of approximately $65,000 and capital investments of approximately $65,000. The one-time charges are comprised of $46,000 of cash charges, which includes $26,000 of personnel-related costs such as training, severance, and duplicate personnel costs as well as $20,000 of facility and lease exit costs. The remaining $19,000 of charges are non-cash and are primarily related to asset write-downs.

In the quarter and six months ended March 31, 2021, CPP incurred pre-tax restructuring and related exit costs approximating $7,502 and $10,581, respectively. During the six months ended March 31, 2021, cash charges totaled $7,891 and non-cash, asset-related charges totaled $2,690; the cash charges included $1,084 for one-time termination benefits and other personnel-related costs and $6,807 for facility and lease exit costs primarily driven by the consolidation of distribution facilities. Non-cash charges of $2,690 predominantly related to inventory that have no recoverable value. During the six months ended March 31, 2021, headcount was reduced by 65.

In the quarter and six months ended March 31, 2020, CPP incurred pre-tax restructuring and related exit costs approximating $3,104 and $9,538, respectively. During the six months ended March 31, 2020, cash charges totaled $4,846 and non-cash, asset-related charges totaled $4,692; the cash charges included $3,792 for one-time termination benefits and other personnel-related costs and $1,054 for facility exit costs. Non-cash charges included a $1,968 impairment charge related to a facility's operating lease as well as $671 of leasehold improvements made to the leased facility and $304 of inventory that have no recoverable value, and a $1,749 impairment charge related to machinery and equipment that have no recoverable value at one of the Company's owned manufacturing locations.

In September 2020, the DE Voluntary Employee Retirement Plan was initiated, which was subsequently followed by a reduction in force in November 2020, to improve efficiencies by combining functions and responsibilities. The combined actions resulted in severance charges of approximately $4,300, with $2,120 recognized in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, and the remaining $2,180 was recognized during the six months ended March 31, 2021. These actions reduced headcount by approximately 90 people.

In addition, charges of $5,601 were recorded during the quarter ended December 31, 2020, primarily related to exiting our older weather radar product lines.

A summary of the restructuring and other related charges included in Cost of goods and services and SG&A expenses in the Company's Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations were as follows:


	For the Three Months Ended March 31,				For the Six Months Ended March 31,
	2021		2020		2021		2020
Cost of goods and services	$	3,337	$	1,353	$	9,762	$	4,076
Selling, general and administrative expenses	4,225		1,751		8,600		5,462
Total restructuring charges	$	7,562	$	3,104	$	18,362	$	9,538


	For the Three Months Ended March 31,				For the Six Months Ended March 31,
	2021		2020		2021		2020
Personnel related costs	$	782	$	1,658	$	3,264	$	3,792
Facilities, exit costs and other	4,283		914		6,807		1,054

Non-cash facility and other	2,497		532		8,291		4,692
Total	$	7,562	$	3,104	$	18,362	$	9,538

The following table summarizes the accrued liabilities of the Company's restructuring actions:


	Cash Charges				Non-Cash
	Personnel related costs		Facilities & Exit Costs		Facility and Other Costs		Total
Accrued liability at September 30, 2020	$	2,701	$	264	$	—	$	2,965
Q1 Restructuring charges	2,482		2,524		5,794		10,800
Q1 Cash payments	(1,598)		(2,534)		—		(4,132)
Q1 Non-cash charges	—		—		(5,794)		(5,794)
Accrued liability at December 31, 2020	$	3,585	$	254	$	—	$	3,839
Q2 Restructuring charges	782		4,283		2,497		7,562
Q2 Cash payments	(3,840)		(4,273)		—		(8,113)
Q2 Non-cash charges	—		—		(2,497)		(2,497)
Accrued liability at March 31, 2021	$	527	$	264	$	—	$	791