SurModics Inc. (NSDQ:SRDX) said today that it will cut 13 percent of its workforce as it struggles to reverse it fortunes.
The company, based in Eden Prairie, Minn., said it will lay off about 30 of its 250 workers. SurModics, aiming to save $3 million to $3.5 million a year, will book a one-time restructuring charge of $1.3 million to $1.7 million during the first quarter of 2011.
The move will also see the company reorganize its businesses into three units: Medical device, pharmaceuticals, and in vitro diagnostics.
>“In the midst of conducting SurModics’ annual strategic planning review, it became apparent that the businesses in which we compete would be best served by a more focused business unit approach that is designed to drive improved profitability,” chairman Robert Buhrmaster said in prepared remarks. “These changes better position SurModics for both financial and operational success.”
The company is still without a permanent CEO, after Bruce Barclay left the company in June to join Hansen Medical.
Under Barclay’s tenure, the company reorganized business units, purchased land, signed licensing agreements, acquired several companies and expanded into ophthalmology and drug development. But SurModics has little to show for those decisions. Last year, it reported significant revenue losses in all of its business units, with the exception of ophthalmology.
For the first nine months of 2010, SurModics reported profits of $574,000 on revenues of $26.3 million, compared to profits of $34.8 million on revenues of $66 million during the same period last year.
Since October 2009, SurModics stock has lost more than half of its value, falling to $12 a share from $29. SRDX shares closed at $12.42 today.
