Asia still in trouble......
General Scanning Announces Staff Reductions
PR Newswire - November 11, 1998 16:18
WATERTOWN, Mass., Nov. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- General Scanning Inc. (Nasdaq: GSCN) today announced a reduction in staff of 70 employees, all from its manufacturing process systems group facilities located in Massachusetts and California, as well as in its worldwide systems sales and service force, particularly in the Far East. This reduction is approximately 8% of the Company's total workforce.
The continuing Asian financial crisis and the dramatic slowdown in the semiconductor and, more recently, related equipment industries have caused the lowering of expectations in certain business segments of the Company. Total Company sales to Asia have declined more than 40% from a recent peak in the Third Quarter 1997 to the Third Quarter 1998. Sales to the semiconductor industry, excluding discontinued products, have declined more than 40% from a peak in the Fourth Quarter of last year to the Third Quarter 1998. Product lines most affected by the slowdown are memory repair, component parts handling, marking of semiconductor packages and certain other related applications.
The Company does not anticipate significant improvement in sales either to Asia or the semiconductor market until later next year, at the earliest.
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