Tonka Corp. announced a $7.6 million second-quarter loss and said it has laid off 110 employees in a restructuring of its Kenner Products and Tonka toy divisions. In cutting the 87 full-time and 23 part-time employees Wednesday, Tonka cited disappointing sales of its once hot Pound Puppies line and other Tonka products as well as a need to eliminate overlapping responsibilities with the recently-acquired Kenner Parker Toys. The company said its second-quarter loss came on sales of $198.4 million, and compared with earnings of $1.6 million, or 20 cents per share, on sales of $49.6 million in the same period a year earlier. Tonka attributed the loss to charges in connection with the Kenner Parker acquisition. The results brought Tonka's six-month losses to $18.1 million, compared with earnings of $3.2 million, or 41 cents a share, in the first half of 1987. First half revenues rose to $366.8 million from $97.9 million. Tonka renewed its earlier prediction that it would break even or earn a profit for the year after reporting a loss of $7.5 million for all of 1987. The layoffs announced Wednesday were the latest in a series of employee cuts among Tonka's four divisions since the Kenner Parker acquisition was announced last fall, reducing total employment from about 4,600 to about 3,975. Stephen Shank, Tonka's chairman and chief executive, said he hoped Wednesday's action would put the company in a stable business position. Tonka also announced Wednesday two Kenner executives will head a new U.S. toy group within the company to oversee the autonomous Kenner and Tonka divisions. David Mauer, 39, president and general manager of Kenner in Cincinnati, will head the group, and Joseph Fortino, 51, senior vice president of Kenner, will hold the same position within the new group.
