Ballantyne Trims Staffing by 10% to Better Align Overhead with Ongoing Shift to Distribution Model

February 13, 2009

Source: Ballantyne

Ballantyne of Omaha, Inc., a provider of cinema equipment and services, announced today that it has reduced its overall staffing by 19 persons, or approximately 10%, as part of the ongoing shift in its business from the manufacture of film projection equipment to the distribution of digital cinema projectors. Annualized cost savings related to these actions is estimated to amount to approximately $900,000. Ballantyne will record a first quarter severance charge of approximately $255,000 related to these actions.

Over half of the staffing reductions were focused on manufacturing and inventory related positions, with the balance spread across administrative areas including accounting and customer service, in addition to a reduction in film equipment sales personnel. All but one of the cuts were for personnel at the Company’s Omaha facility.

John P. Wilmers, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ballantyne, commented, “We have long known that the evolution of our business focus from manufacturing to distribution would require a realignment of staffing in our Omaha facility. Over the past two years we have made good progress in cross training employees to perform new functions required by our change in business focus. Functions such as client support services, integration of digital projection systems at our facility, as well as the manufacture of some sub-assemblies will create new revenue and employment opportunities in Omaha.

“However as our film-based manufacturing requirements continue to decline with the rise of digital projection, management is obligated to take these difficult steps to right-size our staffing levels and position our company for improved financial performance. The combination of a challenged economy and a slower than anticipated ramp up in digital cinema deployments required that we accelerate these actions, and we thank our current and former colleagues for their contributions.”

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