SurModics Inc. is cutting 5% of its work force and vacating a leased facility in Eden Prairie, MN as part of a recently-announced cost-cutting initiative.
The Eden Prairie-based medical technology firm said the changes, including immediately laying off 15 workers, will result in annual savings of about $2 million. The company, however, will record a one-time restructuring charge of approximately $1.5 million to $2.3 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2009.
As part of the plan, SurModics will be reorganized into four business units: cardiovascular, ophthalmology, in vitro technologies and Brookwood Pharmaceuticals. The company’s drug-delivery, hydrophilic technologies, regenerative technologies and orthopedics business units will be eliminated, although those functions will continue under the remaining business units, SurModics Chief Financial Officer Phil Ankeny said. Employees from the eliminated units will be reassigned within the company.
“While the decision to reduce our work force was a very difficult one, we felt it was prudent to bring operating expenses more in line with revenue,” SurModics President and CEO Bruce Barclay said in a statement. “These measures will not adversely impact our ability to create and develop new technologies, or our ability to meet both our near- and long-term goals.”
SurModics will continue to operate out of the 64,000-square-foot headquarters in Eden Prairie. The vacated facility was occupied on a short-term lease, Ankeny said.
SOURCE: Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal