P.M. BRIEFING : Scott to Sell Non-Core Assets

PHILADELPHIA — Scott Paper Co. today said it plans to sell a number of “non-strategic” assets as part of a program to improve its earnings potential and reduce debt.

The company also said it would reduce capital spending, lower working capital and intensify cost-reduction efforts.

Assets that will be sold, Scott said, are most of its food-service business; its specialty paper businesses, including a paper mill in Westbrook, Me., and a converting facility in Belgium, and its bulk non-wovens business, which has manufacturing sites in the United States and Germany.

“Facing a period of economic and political uncertainty worldwide and rising energy costs, we need to take prudent steps to narrow our focus and limit the resources we allocate to just our core businesses,” Scott Chairman and Chief Executive Philip E. Lippincott said.