NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Affymetrix disclosed today in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects to realize restructuring charges of $15.4 million for fiscal-year 2008 as part of its efforts to relocate the majority of its probe array manufacturing from West Sacramento, Calif., to Singapore.
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Affy initially revealed its plans for the relocation in an SEC filing on Feb. 29. At the time, it said it expected to incur non-cash charges of around $12 million to $15 million related to the abandonment of certain manufacturing assets and approximately $500,000 related to employee severance in the first quarter of 2008.
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According to the 10-Q filing today, the firm said of the $15.4 million in charges it now expects to incur, roughly $2.9 million will relate to employee severance and $12.5 million will relate to the abandonment of the manufacturing assets. Affy also said that depending on the rate at which it transfers operations to Singapore, it may incur additional expenses.
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For the first quarter of 2008, Affy recognized approximately $1.4 million of charges related to employee severance and $12.5 million related to the manufacturing assets. The firm recently reported that its Q1 revenues were flat with the comparable period a year ago, excluding a $90 million settlement payment recognized during the quarter.
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In a separate SEC filing today, Affy disclosed that investment advisor Fidelity Management & Research now owns 5,050,490 shares of the firm’s common stock, which represents a nearly 7.3 percent stake in Affy. Of that total amount, the Fidelity Growth Company Fund owns 4,403,190 shares, representing a stake of 6.34 percent in Affy as of April 30.