ELYRIA, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Invacare Corporation (NYSE: IVC) is in the midst of a three-phase business transformation from a generalist durable medical equipment company to one that focuses its strong technical capabilities on solving complex clinical needs for post-acute care. In 2016, the company invested significantly in recruiting and training within its North America commercial team, as well as marketing and engineering to advance its clinical product strategy. In 2017, the company is taking steps to align its infrastructure with this stage of the transformation. As part of this initiative, the company today announced a reduction in its workforce of approximately 100 associates. This reduction is part of the company's larger effort to be more efficient, and it is expected to generate approximately $6.6 million in annualized pre-tax savings.
“Invacare continues to make progress with our transformation plan. After investing in and reorienting the North America commercial organization throughout 2016, now we are focusing on realigning our infrastructure. This will include initiatives that streamline our operations, improve our processes, and remove complexity and cost from our business. These changes, while difficult, are an essential part of our transition to becoming a more sustainably profitable, growing business,” said Matthew E. Monaghan, chairman, president and chief executive officer.
Customary transition assistance will be provided to affected employees as a result of this transition.
Due to the realignment, the Company expects to incur restructuring charges of approximately $2.2 million on a pre-tax basis.
Invacare Corporation (NYSE: IVC), headquartered in Elyria, Ohio, is a global leader in the manufacture and distribution of innovative home and long-term care medical products that promote recovery and active lifestyles. The company currently has approximately 4,600 associates and markets its products in approximately 100 countries around the world. For more information about the company and its products, visit Invacare's website at www.invacare.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “Safe Harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Terms such as “will,” “should,” “could,” “plan,” “intend,” “expect,” “continue,” “believe” and “anticipate,” as well as similar comments, denote forward-looking statements that are subject to inherent uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Actual results and events may differ significantly from those expressed or anticipated as a result of risks and uncertainties, which include, but are not limited to, the following: adverse effects of the company’s consent decree of injunction with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including but not limited to, compliance costs, limitations on the production and/or distribution of the company's products, inability to bid on or win certain contracts, unabsorbed capacity utilization, including fixed costs and overhead, or limitations on the company’s ability to design new power wheelchairs at its Corporate and Taylor Street facilities; any circumstances or developments that might delay or adversely impact the FDA's acceptance of the expert’s updated report on the remediation of specified design history files, FDA's acceptance of the third, most comprehensive expert certification audit report, FDA's acceptance of the company's own written report as required by the consent decree, or FDA's inspection of the company's quality systems at the Elyria, Ohio, facilities impacted by the consent decree, including any possible failure to comply with the consent decree or FDA regulations, any requirement to perform additional remediation activities or further resultant delays in receipt of FDA's written notification to resume operations; regulatory proceedings or the company's failure to comply with regulatory requirements or receive regulatory clearance or approval for the company's products or operations in the United States or abroad; adverse effects of regulatory or governmental inspections of company facilities at any time and governmental enforcement actions; circumstances or developments that may make the company unable to implement or realize the anticipated benefits, or that may increase the costs, of its current business initiatives; product liability or warranty claims; product recalls, including more extensive warranty or recall experience than expected; the failure or refusal of customers or healthcare professionals to sign verification of medical necessity (VMN) documentation or other certification forms required by the exceptions to the FDA consent decree; possible adverse effects of being leveraged, including interest rate or event of default risks; exchange rate fluctuations, particularly in light of the relative importance of the company's foreign operations to its overall financial performance and including the potential impacts of the Brexit referendum; potential impacts of the new United States administration’s policies, and any legislation or regulations that may result from those policies, such as possible border-adjusted taxes on imported goods; legal actions, including adverse judgments or settlements of litigation or claims in excess of available insurance limits; adverse changes in government and other third-party payor reimbursement levels and practices both in the U.S. and in other countries (such as, for example, more extensive pre-payment reviews and post-payment audits by payors, or the continuing impact of the Medicare National Competitive Bidding program); impacts of the U.S. Affordable Care Act of 2010 (such as, for example, the impact on the company of the excise tax on certain medical devices, and the company's ability to successfully offset such impact); ineffective cost reduction and restructuring efforts or inability to realize anticipated cost savings or achieve desired efficiencies from such efforts; delays, disruptions or excessive costs incurred in facility closures or consolidations; tax rate fluctuations; additional tax expense or additional tax exposures, which could affect the company's future profitability and cash flow; inability to design, manufacture, distribute and achieve market acceptance of new products with greater functionality or new product platforms that deliver the anticipated benefits; consolidation of health care providers; lower cost imports; uncollectible accounts receivable; difficulties in implementing/upgrading Enterprise Resource Planning systems; risk of cybersecurity attack, data breach or data loss and/or delays in or inability to recover or restore data and IT systems; risks inherent in managing and operating businesses in many different foreign jurisdictions; decreased availability or increased costs of materials which could increase the company's costs of producing or acquiring the company's products, including possible increases in commodity costs or freight costs; heightened vulnerability to a hostile takeover attempt or other shareholder activism; provisions of Ohio law or in the company's debt agreements, charter documents or other agreements that may prevent or delay a change in control, as well as the risks described from time to time in the company's reports as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except to the extent required by law, the company does not undertake and specifically declines any obligation to review or update any forward-looking statements or to publicly announce the results of any revisions to any of such statements to reflect future events or developments or otherwise.