Sara Lee to Lay Off 6% of Its Work Force : Jobs: The company says cuts will be made in its personal products division, with about half occurring in the U.S.

Sara Lee Corp. said Monday that it will cut 8,000 to 9,000 jobs worldwide to slim down after a buying binge in recent years broadened its businesses from pastry to pantyhose and underwear.

The layoffs amount to about 6% of Sara Lee’s work force. Most will come from consolidation of plants that make and distribute sheer pantyhose, sweat shirts and other knitwear. A little more than half the layoffs will be in the United States, Sara Lee said. It said it was not ready to name the affected plants.

The company blamed a trend toward more casual women’s work wear for declining sales in its Hanes and L’Eggs hosiery lines. In addition, its Hanes and Champion brand sweat shirts and sweat pants have not sold as well as the company had hoped.

“Competition has never been more intense,” Sara Lee Chairman John H. Bryan said in an interview. “You’re in a very low inflation time with very little pricing flexibility today.”

Wall Street liked the news. Sara Lee stock gained 87.5 cents to $23.625 a share on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company said it will reduce its profits by $495 million, or $1.03 per share, after taxes, in the fourth quarter ending this month to cover the costs of plant closings, severance pay and job-search help for the laid-off employees.

Sara Lee said it expects record profits this fiscal year and wants to protect earnings by trimming payrolls.

“It’s really to remain on track and to continue our growth track record in the future,” spokeswoman Anne McCarthy said.

Most of the layoffs will be in the personal products division, which makes and markets underwear, pantyhose and fleece products under brand names such as Hanes, Champion, L’Eggs, Liz Claiborne, DKNY and Playtex.

The affected U.S. factories are concentrated in North and South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and New York, Sara Lee spokeswoman Theresa Herlevsen said. The overseas plants are mainly in Spain, Italy and France, she said.

Sara Lee also owns Coach leather goods, Kiwi shoe polish, Endust furniture polish, Ball Park hot dogs and Hillshire Farm sausages, in addition to its namesake frozen baked goods.

It expanded into knitwear by buying Hanes in 1979 and built up that business dramatically in the past five years, with acquisitions of Playtex Apparel Inc. and a host of European and Mexican clothing companies.

The personal products division accounted for $6.1 billion, or about 42%, of Sara Lee’s $14.6 billion in sales in the fiscal year that ended July 3.

“The personal products division is its most important division. I think management is doing what they have to do to improve returns and meet targeted growth goals,” said John McMillin of Prudential Securities Inc. in New York.

Sara Lee said its worldwide sheer hosiery sales dropped 4% in 1993 and have been sliding for several years. Herlevsen said fashion has shifted away from sheer hosiery to opaque hose, tights and socks, leaving Sara Lee with excess manufacturing capacity.

The company said the job cuts will save it about $250 million a year by 1998.

Sara Lee reported a flat third-quarter profit of $152 million, or 30 cents a share. It will report fiscal 1994 results in August.