MWG forced to slash staff
its workforce in a further effort to reduce costs, prompting
speculation about the long-term future of the company in its
present state.
The move comes just days after the company said it would sell its microarray and laboratory 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 also revealed a drop in revenues in the first nine months of the year, down 19 per cent to €26.5 million, with €17.9 million of that total coming from its DNA sequencing and nucleic acids business. Microarrays/lab automation achieved revenues of €8.5 million, down from €11.2 million a year earlier.
Earnings before taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) for the business as a whole came €200,000 on the negative side, with the same loss registered for the core business. But despite these figures MWG insisted that the result was 'slightly positive'.
The German company said that for the full-year, it anticipates revenues of €31 million, with a loss before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation, and restructuring costs of €9.4 million. Earlier this year, when it was forecasting moderate turnover growth and flat EBITDA, MWG revealed that it had liquid funds of just €9.3 million, which suggests it will have to attract new funding sooner rather than later.
The company's problems have emerged shortly after the departure of former chairman Thomas Becker at the end of August, to be replaced in the interim by Wolfgang Pieken and Volker Muschalek.
