Sight Resource Announces Operational Improvement Initiatives
11/11/99 7:28:22 AM
HOLLISTON, Mass., Nov 11, 1999 (BW HealthWire) -- Sight Resource Corporation (NASDAQ:VISN), a leading provider of primary eye care services and managed vision care programs, today announced that it has begun a program of consolidating its optical manufacturing laboratories. As a result of these actions, the Company expects to reduce costs by over $250,000 per year, or $0.03 per basic and $0.02 per diluted share, beginning in the year 2000.
Sight Resource's optical manufacturing facilities in Holliston, Massachusetts and Metairie, Louisiana will cease operations next month. The closing of the facilities will result in a net reduction of 25 positions associated with the manufacturing process. Job orders previously processed by the affected facilities will be handled by the Company's existing laboratories at Kent Optical in Muskegon, Michigan and E.B. Brown Opticians in Cleveland, Ohio. The consolidation effort will result in one-time expenses of approximately $150,000, primarily associated with severance costs, which will be recognized in the quarter ending December 25, 1999.
In addition, the Company announced that it will close three underperforming stores prior to the end of the first quarter of 2000. While these stores account for less than 1% of the Company's total revenue, they have each experienced declining sales and have a combined operating loss of greater than $150,000 per year. Closing of these stores will result in a one-time expense of approximately $75,000, which will be recognized in the quarter ending December 25, 1999.
William T. Sullivan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sight Resource Corporation, offered the following comments regarding the lab consolidation effort, "We believe that this consolidation initiative is an important part of our effort to deliver better shareholder value in the coming year. Our facilities at Kent Optical and E.B. Brown Opticians are our most up-to-date facilities and are ready and eager to meet this new challenge. In an age of overnight couriers and computer linked stores and laboratories, we are confident of our ability to deliver quality products to our customers and improved margins for our shareholders. In calculating the savings which we can generate from these efforts, we have been cognizant of the fact that we need to do everything in our power to maintain customer satisfaction and customer loyalty during the transition period."
Sight Resource is one of the country's leading providers of primary eye care products and services, including managed vision care programs, operating 130 primary eye care centers in the U.S. The Company provides products and services through an integrated network of opticians, optometrists, and ophthalmologists, affiliated with its primary eye care chains: Cambridge Eye Doctors in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, E.B. Brown Opticians in Ohio and Pennsylvania, Eyeglass Emporium in Indiana, Kent Optical in Michigan, Shawnee Optical in Pennsylvania and Ohio, Vision Plaza in Louisiana and Mississippi, and Vision World in Rhode Island.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements contained in this news release which are not historical fact are forward-looking statements based upon management's current expectations that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in or implied by forward-looking statements. These risks and additional factors affecting the Company's business are described in the Company's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1998 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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