IncrediMail Ltd. (Nasdaq:MAIL: TASE:MAIL) announced that it was laying off 13 employees, 9% of its workforce. CEO Ofer Adler said in a statement, "After analyzing the global economic situation and its possible effects on us, we concluded that in order to achieve our targets for 2009 we must streamline and cut costs."
Adler added, "We're preparing accordingly, and we must regrettably let go of 13 employees. We nevertheless believe in the advantages of our business model, we're maintaining financial stability, and we'll continue to invest to achieve growth and profitability in 2009."
IncrediMail had 145 employees before the layoffs, mostly in Israel and a few at the company's US office. Most employees work in R&D, support, and product design, and presumably most of the layoffs will come in these departments. The layoffs are not the first at the company. At a conference call in April, IncrediMail CFO Yacov Kaufman noted that the company's workforce had shrunk to 145 from 154 as of the end of January.
IncrediMail has therefore shed 14.3% of its workforce so far this year, amounting to 22 people, and the current round of layoffs may not be the last.
The share fell 3.1% on Nasdaq on Friday to $3.10. It has traded as high as $8.14 in the past year. The share was unchanged at NIS 11.53 in morning trading on the TASE today.
The layoffs follow similar measures last week by Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX), Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. (Nasdaq:NVMI; TASE:NVMI), and Mind CTI Ltd. (Nasdaq: MNDO; TASE: MNDO).
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 2, 2008
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