California medtech company Biolase (NSDQ:BIOL) is looking to slim down ahead of a potential acquisition as the company examines its "strategic alternatives."
The medical lasers maker is still posting quarterly losses, closing out its fiscal 2013 with more than double the red ink it posted the previous year. Biolase hopes to shift around its resources to focus on more fruitful efforts, chairman & CEO Federico Pignatelli said in a call with investors. Those efforts include new sales reps and less reliance on things like trade shows.
Biolase called the cuts the 1st phase of a larger cost-savings plan for 2014. The company expects to save about $1.3 million per year in payroll and payroll-related expenses. Future efforts will include streamlining of the company’s marketing and advertising programs to "improve its return on investment for these expenditures," according to a company statement.
"The number one goal of management for fiscal 2014, to which we are highly committed, is to resume revenue growth and bring the Company to profitability," Pignatelli said in prepared remarks.
Biolase posted losses of $2.2 million, or 6¢ per share, on sales of $15.2 million during the 3 months ended December 31. That compared with profits of $1 million, or 3¢ per diluted share, on sales of $19.1 million during the same period the previous year. Adjusted to exclude 1-time expenses, Biolase posted per-share losses of 4¢.
It was during its 4th quarter that Biolase engaged the serves of Piper Jaffray & Co to begin evaluating "a wide range" of exits, including opening itself up for acquisition. The company had announced plans to solicit a suitor as far back as November.
For the full year, Biolase reported losses of $11.5 million, or 35¢ per share, on sales of $56.4 million. That compared with losses of $3.1 million, or 10¢ per share, on sales of $57.4 million in 2012.
BIOL shares have gained 1.4% since the start of the year and are up more than 48% compared with 6 months ago. The stock was trading at $2.87 at about 4 p.m. EST yesterday, a 0.7% boost on the day.
