In a terse press release, Harlequin parent company Torstar has announced plans for laying off 4% of the workforce at the multinational romance publisher. Says the release: “Torstar expects that the restructuring charge will be approximately $2.5 million. The savings associated with this initiative are expected to be in the range of $3 million annually.” And that’s pretty much it for information; both Torstar executive David Holland and Harlequin CEO Donna Hayes are away until the end of the week. (Watch Q&Q Omni in the future for details about the layoffs.) With Harlequin’s heavy international reach, the firm has been hit hard by the surging value of the Canadian dollar. In second-quarter results released in August, Harlequin reported a $17-million drop in revenue from the same period last year, which it attributed to “currency movements.”

Related links:
Click here for the Torstar release
Click here for a Q&Q Omni item on Harlequin’s most recent quarterly results