7/15/2002 6:01:00 AM
BOTHELL, Wash., Jul 15, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Microvision, Inc.
(Nasdaq:MVIS), a leader in light scanning technologies, today announced that it
has taken steps to reduce operating expense by up to $2 million per quarter
beginning in the current quarter.
Over the next 18 months the Company expects to save $10 to $12 million, thereby
extending the useful life of current cash balances and substantially reducing
the amount of new capital that the company may need to raise during that time.
The reduced operating costs will also significantly reduce the total amount of
revenue required for the company to achieve profitable operations.
The cost reductions are spread across the organization and included
consolidation of certain positions and elimination of others, resulting in a
modest workforce reduction of 14 people. The Company currently employs 179 full
time employees.
“Given the difficult conditions prevailing in the capital markets, we believe
the most prudent course of action for the company is to reduce our rate of
spending and focus on cash flow considerations without compromising our key
technical and business goals,” said Microvision CEO Rick Rutkowski. “We believe
that we are in a position to do this, because in the last six months we have
achieved meaningful productivity gains in several areas, including R&D. We have
achieved important technical milestones and have demonstrated generally
increased momentum in technology development.
Our major product initiatives in both display and bar code scanning systems
continue to be well funded. Work on the next generation of the Nomad Personal
Display for a U.S. military customer is currently partially funded from existing
contracts, and we believe we may be successful in securing additional contracts
to cover the remaining amount. During the last two quarters we have also been
awarded development contracts, by commercial partners, which have provided
funding for our work in the automotive and microdisplay areas. We continue to
target such commercial development contracts to fund our advanced products and
are optimistic that we could see continued growth in this area of our business.
Despite difficult capital markets, this is an exciting time in the Company’s
development and prospects for our products and technology remain strong.”
The company, including its subsidiary Lumera, reported that it had $30.4 million
in cash, cash equivalents and investment securities as of the quarter ending
March 31, 2002. While the Company has not yet reported its final second quarter
financial results, the Company indicated in a June 13, 2002 press release that
it expects its net loss per share to improve substantially over the first
quarter loss of $(.62) per share.
About Microvision
Headquartered in Bothell, Wash., Microvision, Inc. is the developer of the
proprietary Retinal Scanning Display technology and a world leader in micro
miniature optical scanning technology for display and imaging applications. The
company’s technology has applications in a broad range of military, medical,
industrial, professional and consumer information products. Additional
information can be found at the company’s Web site at http://www.mvis.com.
Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer
Certain statements contained in this release, including those relating to
extension of cash balances, amount of new capital to be raised, expectations of
net loss, securing additional contracts, prospects for products and technology,
as well as statements containing words like “believe,” “anticipate,” “estimate,”
“intend,” “expect,” and other similar expressions, are forward-looking
statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in our
forward-looking statements include the following: market acceptance of our
technologies and products; our financial and technical resources relative to
those of our competitors; our ability to obtain financing; our ability to keep
up with rapid technological change; government regulation of our technologies;
our ability to enforce our intellectual property rights and protect our
proprietary technologies; the ability to obtain additional contract awards and
to develop partnership opportunities; the timing of commercial product launches;
the ability to achieve key technical milestones in key products; and other risk
factors identified from time to time in our SEC reports, including in our Annual
Report on 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001 and our Quarterly Reports on
Form 10-Q.
CONTACT: Microvision, Inc., Bothell
Brian Heagler, 425/415-6794 (investors)
brian_heagler@mvis.com
or
Matt Nichols, 425/415-6657 (media)
matt_nichols@mvis.com
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