Steelcase to shut facilities as commodity costs up

NEW YORK, March 28 (Reuters) - Office furniture maker Steelcase Inc (SCS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Friday detailed a challenging business outlook for coming months, saying it would close three facilities to cut costs amid higher commodity costs and declining North American organic revenue.

"We are currently estimating North America organic revenue to decline in the first quarter by low to mid single digits," Chief Executive Officer Dave Sylvester said in a conference call with analysts and investors.

Sylvester added that the company would close three facilities and cut between 200 and 250 jobs.

In response to a question, Sylvester said that commodity-based inflation could increase full-year costs for the full year in the "ballpark" of $20 million to $28 million. (Reporting by Chelsea Emery, editing by Mark Porter)