Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:[[ticker:CRL]]) is closing its discovery and molecular imaging facility in Ann Arbor, MI, as part of a plan to save the struggling company $40 million in annual expenses.
The Wilmington, MA-based contract research firm reported yesterday that it’s cutting 4 percent of its global work force in response to weakened demand from its pharmaceutical clients; that involves the company laying off 300 workers, leaving it with 7,500 employees globally, spokeswoman Amy Cianciaruso said today.
The Ann Arbor facility became part of Charles River through the $12.5 million acquisition of Molecular Imaging Research in September 2008. The firm employs about 30 workers in Ann Arbor, according to Cianciaruso. Its plans are to consolidate the operation there with its larger facility in Morrisville, NC. Charles River Labs will still maintain a presence in Michigan, however, as it plans to continue operations at its research models and services facility in Portage, MI.
Cianciaruso said she did not have a timeline for the consolidation of the firm’s Ann Arbor operation with the facility in North Carolina. The company will also be closing its leased preclinical services facility in Laval, Quebec. In reducing its global work force and consolidating operations, the firm expects to save $40 million annually beginning in 2011, according to a company press release.
This major round of layoffs follows the firm’s announcement in January that it would let go 300 workers in its preclinical services group and close its Shrewsbury, MA, facility. The company has been faced with declining sales in part because of reduced R&D spending among its global pharmaceutical customers. The firm reported a 33.4 percent drop in profits for the third quarter of 2010, with net income for the quarter falling from $42.6 million in the year-earlier quarter to $28.4 million this year.
