FARO Announces Global Reduction in Force of 7%
21 February 2009 - 12:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
LAKE MARY, Fla., Feb. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FARO
Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:FARO) today announced a global reduction
in force driven by ongoing economic weakness and a continued lack
of near-term visibility for the business. The reduction, effective
immediately, affects approximately 7% of FARO's workforce with the
largest cuts coming from manufacturing and administrative
functions. The Company expects to save approximately $4.5 million
on an annualized basis and will incur a first quarter charge of
approximately $0.5 million related to severance costs. "Today's
announcement is the result of taking a regrettable but necessary
step towards protecting the continued long-term health of the
business," stated Jay Freeland, FARO's President & CEO. "Global
economic weakness remains a significant challenge for most
companies and FARO is no exception. Our decision to make these cuts
now reflects the reality of the business environment. However, it
does not alter the long-term outlook for FARO," Freeland concluded.
This press release contains forward-looking statements (within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995)
that are subject to risks and uncertainties, such as statements
about our plans, objectives, projections, expectations,
assumptions, strategies, or future events. Statements that are not
historical facts or that describe the Company's plans, objectives,
projections, expectations, assumptions, strategies, or goals are
forward-looking statements. In addition, words such as "may,"
"believes," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "seeks,"
"estimates," "will," "should," "could," "projects," "forecast,"
"target," "goal," and similar expressions or discussions of our
strategy or other intentions identify forward-looking statements.
Other written or oral statements, which constitute forward-looking
statements, also may be made by the Company from time to time.
Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance
and are subject to various known and unknown risks, uncertainties,
and other factors that may cause actual results, performances, or
achievements to differ materially from future results,
performances, or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Consequently, undue reliance should not
be placed on these forward-looking statements. Factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or
forecasted in forward-looking statements include, but are not
limited to: -- our inability to further penetrate our customer
base; -- development by others of new or improved products,
processes or technologies that make our products obsolete or less
competitive; -- our inability to maintain our technological
advantage by developing new products and enhancing our existing
products; -- our inability to successfully identify and acquire
target companies or achieve expected benefits from acquisitions
that are consummated; -- the cyclical nature of the industries of
our customers and material adverse -- changes in our customers'
access to liquidity and capital; -- a slowdown or other adverse
changes in industries that the Company serves or the domestic and
international economies in the regions of the world where the
Company operates and other general economic, business, and
financing conditions; -- the fact that the market potential for the
CAM2 market and the potential adoption rate for our products are
difficult to quantify and predict; -- the inability to protect our
patents and other proprietary rights in the United States and
foreign countries; -- fluctuations in our annual and quarterly
operating results and the inability to achieve our financial
operating targets as a result of a number of factors including,
without limitation (i) litigation and regulatory action brought
against us, (ii) quality issues with our products, (iii) excess or
obsolete inventory, (iv) raw material price fluctuations, (v)
expansion of our manufacturing capability and other inflationary
pressures, (vi) the size and timing of customer orders, (vii) the
amount of time that it takes to fulfill orders and ship our
products, (viii) the length of our sales cycle to new customers and
the time and expense incurred in further penetrating our existing
customer base, (ix) increases in operating expenses required for
product development and new product, marketing, (x) costs
associated with new product introductions, such as product
development, marketing, assembly line start-up costs and low
introductory period production volumes, (xi) the timing and market
acceptance of new products and product enhancements, (xii) customer
order deferrals in anticipation of new products and product
enhancements, (xiii) our success in expanding our sales and
marketing programs, (xiv) start- up costs associated with opening
new sales offices outside of the United States, (xv) fluctuations
in revenue without proportionate adjustments in fixed costs, (xvi)
the efficiencies achieved in managing inventories and fixed assets,
(xvii) investments in potential acquisitions or strategic sales,
product or other initiatives, (xviii) shrinkage or other inventory
losses due to product obsolescence, scrap or material price
changes, (xix) adverse changes in the manufacturing industry and
general economic conditions, (xx) compliance with government
regulations including health, safety, and environmental matters,
(xxi) the ultimate costs of the Company's monitoring obligations in
respect of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") matter; and
(xxii) other factors noted herein; -- changes in gross margins due
to changing product mix of products sold and the different gross
margins on different products; -- our inability to successfully
maintain the requirements of Restriction of use of Hazardous
Substances ("RoHS") and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
("WEEE") compliance into our products; -- the inability of our
products to displace traditional measurement devices and attain
broad market acceptance; -- the impact of competitive products and
pricing in the CAM2 market and the broader market for measurement
and inspection devices; -- the effects of increased competition as
a result of recent consolidation in the CAM2 market; -- risks
associated with expanding international operations, such as
fluctuations in currency exchange rates, difficulties in staffing
and managing foreign operations, political and economic
instability, compliance with import and export regulations, and the
burdens and potential exposure of complying with a wide variety of
U.S. and foreign laws and labor practices; -- the loss of our Chief
Executive Officer or other key personnel; -- difficulties in
recruiting research and development engineers, and application
engineers; -- the failure to effectively manage our growth; --
variations in the effective income tax rate and the difficulty in
predicting the tax rate on a quarterly and annual basis; and -- the
loss of key suppliers and the inability to find sufficient
alternative suppliers in a reasonable period or on commercially
reasonable terms. -- the other risks detailed in the Company's
Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings from time to time with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements
in this release represent the Company's judgment as of the date of
this release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update
publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events, or otherwise. About FARO With
approximately 19,000 installations and 9,000 customers globally,
FARO Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, and markets portable,
computerized measurement devices and software used to create
digital models -- or to perform evaluations against an existing
model -- for anything requiring highly detailed 3-D measurements,
including part and assembly inspection, factory planning and asset
documentation, as well as specialized applications ranging from
surveying, recreating accident sites and crime scenes to digitally
preserving historical sites. FARO's technology increases
productivity by dramatically reducing the amount of on-site
measuring time, and the various industry-specific software packages
enable users to process and present their results quickly and more
effectively. Principal products include the world's best-selling
portable measurement arm -- the FaroArm; the world's best-selling
laser tracker -- the FARO Laser Tracker X and Xi; the FARO Laser
ScanArm; FARO Photon Laser Scanners; the FARO Gage, Gage-PLUS and
PowerGAGE; and the CAM2 Q family of advanced CAD-based measurement
and reporting software. FARO Technologies is ISO-9001 certified and
ISO-17025 laboratory registered. DATASOURCE: FARO Technologies,
Inc. CONTACT: Keith Bair, Senior Vice President and CFO,
+1-407-333-9911, Web site: http://www.faro.com/
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