MERRIMACK, N.H., Aug. 31, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (OTC:GTATQ), today announced that it is reducing global headcount and lowering its operating expenses as part of its ongoing restructuring. In July, the company announced it had secured a $95 million debtor-in-possession term loan facility, and is now taking steps it believes are necessary to align its cost structure with its revised business plan being developed to allow the company to successfully emerge from Chapter 11 in the first quarter of 2016.
The revised business plan's foundation will be centered on the breadth of the company's core technologies and product offerings, including its ASF® sapphire equipment business, its traditional polysilicon and DSS solar PV business, the commercialization of the Merlin™ cell interconnect technology and its specialty sapphire materials business. In addition to its ASF equipment sales efforts, the company is taking steps to ensure that its solar PV product offerings are ready to capitalize on new demand from customers as the solar capital equipment business returns to growth over the next two years. Additionally, the company is looking at its other businesses to assess their strategic importance to the company's operations once it emerges from Chapter 11.
The action impacts all locations and functions of the company's global business operations and is expected to reduce headcount and related operating expenses by approximately 40 percent.
Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the information in this press release relates to future expectations, plans and prospects for the Company's business and industry that constitute "forward-looking statements" for the purposes of the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "could," "should," "expect," "plan," "project," "intend," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "pursue," "target," "continue," the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to the following: restructuring the company in an effort to exit bankruptcy, and will continue to examine all aspects of our business to best position the company to emerge from bankruptcy. These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance and these statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that may be beyond the company's control and may cause actual future results to differ materially from our current expectations. The company's ability to emerge from bankruptcy may be negatively impacted by certain factors, including the company's Chapter 11 filings and its ability to comply with agreements with other parties (including Apple Inc.), and the company's ability to raise sufficient capital to allow it to emerge from Chapter 11. Other factors that may cause actual events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and various other risks are outlined in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including (but not limited to) the statements under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 28, 2014 and the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013. Statements in this press release should be evaluated in light of these important factors. The statements in this press release represent GT Advanced Technologies Inc.'s expectations and beliefs as of the date of this press release. GT Advanced Technologies Inc. anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause these expectations and beliefs to change. GT Advanced Technologies Inc. is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any such obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.