Dive Brief:
- Staar Surgical, a maker of implantable lenses for vision correction, will lay off 115 employees on April 21 at two California facilities, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) letter filed with the state.
- The permanent cuts affect 110 people in Monrovia, California, and five employees in Aliso Viejo, California. Most of those laid off from the Monrovia site are production operators, technicians and coaches, the letter stated. The company said it is not shutting any facilities and will still have more than 550 employees in Southern California.
- Staar has been struggling with weak demand in China, its largest market. “This decision was made to best position the company for the current weakness in our largest end market amid ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges that have pressured the business,” a spokesperson said in an email.
Dive Insight:
Staar generated 94% of its revenue last year from sales outside of the U.S., with two customers that distribute into China and Hong Kong accounting for about 51% of consolidated net sales, according to the company’s annual report. Sales to the China distributors fell 13% year over year in 2024 to $161.3 million.
When Staar released fourth-quarter results earlier this month, CEO Tom Frinzi said macroeconomic conditions and consumer confidence in China remained weak despite a government stimulus program announced in September. Staar reported an overall net loss of $20.2 million in full-year 2024, compared to net income of $21.3 million the prior year.
Demand in China for Staar’s cash-pay implantable Collamer lenses “deteriorated dramatically” late last year, Frinzi said.
Procedure volumes improved in January, but the company still expects lower China demand in fiscal 2025, especially in the first half of the year. Staar said it has been working with its distributors to address elevated inventory levels and planned to reduce production output, capital expenditures and operating expenses this year.
Monrovia is home to Staar’s global administrative offices and principal lens manufacturing plant, in addition to warehouse and distribution facilities.
The company manufactures raw material for its lenses in Aliso Viejo, where it also has an advanced research facility, the spokesperson said.
Staar employed a total of 1,211 people at the end of 2024, up from 1,115 people in 2023, according to annual reports.
