Medical diagnostics company Trinity Biotech is writing off $39.5 million (€29.96 million) after introducing a restructuring plan which will see it reduce its global workforce by almost 10 per cent.
The company is closing a Swedish factory, reorganising its sales and marketing unit and suspending two HIV research projects.
In a drive to develop greater "focus" in the organisation, it wants to cut its worldwide workforce of 840 people by almost 80 people.
Chief executive Brendan Farrell said the company was eliminating 40 jobs from its plant in Bray, Co Wicklow, but said 35 of the reductions had been achieved by not replacing staff who left in recent weeks. A total of five staff were made redundant from the plant yesterday.
"We really need as a company to be more focused on what we're doing, to try to take on less and to do what we're doing properly, on time and within budget," he said in conference call.
Shares in the Nasdaq-listed firm, which has a market capitalisation of some $155.88 million, lost over 3 per cent in early Nasdaq business to trade at around $8.15. However, they closed slightly up at $8.25. The stock changed hands at $11.75 in July.
Trinity said the writedown, in the fourth quarter of its financial year, would have no cash impact, save for about $2 million in redundancy provisions. Some $20.2 million is being written off for the impairment of goodwill. The writedown of research and development costs amounts to $5.5 million.
The company is reorganising its sales and marketing operation into two units. A single clinical laboratory division will replace a three-team sales operation in the US.
Trinity will "cull" 175 of its 471 products - 106 haemostasis products and 69 infectious disease products - leading to the writedown of inventory. It will also suspend research on an over-the-counter HIV product and a HIV "western blot" confirmatory test.
Such initiatives are designed to save $5 million a year, which Trinity said would counteract the effects of dollar weakness and wage inflation. The company will close its manufacturing plant at Umea, Sweden, and move production at that factory to its Irish and US units. This will result in further annual savings of $500,000, Trinity said.
