MWG to Sack 60 Percent of Staff as Revenue Declines; Restructuring Gains Steam

NEW YORK, Oct. 25 (GenomeWeb News) - MWG Biotech will slash around 60 percent of its workforce in a further effort to reduce costs, the company said today.

The move comes just weeks after MWG said it would sell its microarray and lab-automation businesses in order to focus on genomic synthesis, synthetic nucleic acids, oligonucleotide production, and DNA sequencing.

According to MWG, it will "massively reduce its workforce" from 351 to 140 "amid a streamlining of administration and sales structures." The company noted that "service for all international customers remains unaffected."

MWG announced the layoffs along with a drop in revenues for the first nine months of 2004, which fell to to €26.5 million ($33.9 million) from €32.6 million the year before. The company said its DNA sequencing and nucleic acids product businesses contributed €17.9 million in revenues during the first nine months of this year, while the microarrays and lab automation operations generated €8.5 million.

For the first nine months of 2004, MWG posted €6.8 million in losses before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.

MWG said that for the full-year 2004, it anticipates revenues to total €31 million, with a loss before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and restructuring costs of €9.4 million.