American Greetings to Close Canadian Plant

American Greetings Corp., the largest publicly traded greeting card company, said it will close its Ontario, Canada, plants and cut 650 jobs as it restructures its international business. The Cleveland-based company said it will take a second-quarter charge of about $30 million for severance costs and closing the operations. It expects to take another charge later this year related to its international operations. The amount of the charge was undisclosed, though the company said it will be less than the charge for the Canadian operations. American Greetings plans to restructure its international business to more fully combine its Canadian and U.S. operations. It expects the move will save about $12 million a year. The company had sales of $2.21 billion for the fiscal year ended Feb. 28. Its shares fell 56 cents to close at $29 on the New York Stock Exchange.