Kulicke & Soffa To Cut U.S. Jobs

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Kulicke and Soffa Industries Inc. plans to reduce its Irvine, Calif. workforce by approximately 56 employees over a period of approximately 26 months, according to a filing. The company's Irvine-based manufacturing will be transferred to its manufacturing facilities in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Singapore. Certain administrative functions will also be transferred to Malaysia and Singapore, according to a filing. ''Management determined that it was in the best interests of the Company to reduce costs by migrating production and certain administrative functions from California to Southeast Asia,'' according to the filing. K&S anticipates pre-tax expense of approximately $1.8 million, substantially all of which will be incurred by the end of the second fiscal quarter of 2011, consisting of $1.3 million of severance costs and $0.5 million of retention costs. Future cash expenditures are expected to be the same amounts, and are expected to be incurred during the period beginning in the first fiscal quarter of 2011 and ending in the first fiscal quarter of 2013. For its first quarter, the company reported net revenue of $128.4 million and net income of $15.8 million, or $0.21 per diluted share.