REFILE-UPDATE 2-Briggs & Stratton to close plants; shares down

* Sees FY12 EPS $1.15-$1.35 vs est $1.27

* Sees restructuring charges in 2012

* Shares down 9 pct

Jan 26 (Reuters) - Engine maker Briggs & Stratton Corp said it will close two plants, cut jobs and take a related charge in fiscal 2012, sending its shares down as much as 9 percent.

Briggs & Stratton said it will continue to reduce capacity and costs by reconfiguring and idling certain assets at its Poplar Bluff, Missouri facility -- a process it started last year.

The company will close the Newbern, Tennessee plant and move production to McDonough, Georgia, a move that will affect 240 regular employees and 450 temporary employees.

It will also close the Ostrava plant in the Czech Republic and shift production to Murray, Kentucky, affecting 77 regular jobs, it said in a statement.

The company had 6,716 employees as of July last, a Sept. 1 filing showed.

The Newbern facility makes walk-behind lawn mowers and snow throwers for the U.S. market. The Ostrava facility makes small engines for the outdoor power equipment industry.

Briggs & Stratton, the world's largest producer of gasoline engines for outdoor power equipment, sees related charges of $50 million to $55 million. Of this, $45 million to $50 million will be recorded in fiscal 2012.

Operations in Ostrava are expected to wind down by March 15 and Newbern by May 15.

The company, which sees annualized pre-tax savings of $18 million to $20 million from the restructuring, forecast a 2012 profit of $1.15 to $1.35 a share.

It expects full-year sales to go up about 4 percent to 6 percent.

Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.27 a share, on revenue of $2.22 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For the second quarter the company posted a net profit of $2.70 million, or 5 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $1.25 million, or 3 cents a share, a year ago.

Revenue fell slightly to $447.9 million.

Shares of the company were down 9 percent at $15.68 in morning trade on Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. They touched a low of $$15.40 earlier in the session.