Restructuring will reduce operating costs by $50 million to $65 million a year, company says
Shares of Luminar Technologies Inc. dropped more than 9% in extended trading Friday after the maker of lidar and other sensors for self-driving vehicles said it was cutting its workforce by 20% as part of a restructuring plan.
Luminar LAZR, -0.60% said that Friday’s announcement was part of what it had promised in February when it reported fourth-quarter earnings.
The layoffs are intended to “realign” Luminar’s workforce with its “highest priorities and core competencies as a company,” as well as eliminate redundancies and reduce operating costs, the company said in a regulatory filing.
In a separate filing earlier this year, Luminar said it had nearly 800 full-time employees based mostly in the U.S., Germany, Sweden, India and China as of late December. None of the employees are represented by a labor union, it noted.
As part of the plan, Luminar will also reduce its office footprint by subleasing some of its facilities, it said. The actions will start immediately and are expected to be completed by the end of the year, the company said.
Luminar estimated about $6 million to $8 million in cash charges associated with employee severance and related employee costs, mostly to be incurred in the second and third quarters of this year.
The company called for another $2 million to $5 million in losses from subleasing facilities, to be incurred over the remainder of the year.
Once completed, the plan will reduce operating costs by $50 million to $65 million a year, of which $20 million to $30 million will be savings in cash costs, Luminar said.
The company is slated to report its first-quarter earnings after the bell Tuesday.
Analysts polled by FactSet expect it to post an adjusted loss of 18 cents a share on sales of $21.2 million. That would compare with an adjusted loss of 24 cents a share on sales of $14.5 million in the first quarter of 2023.
Shares of Luminar are down 50% so far this year, contrasting with gains of around 7.5% for the S&P 500 index SPX.