P.M. BRIEFING : Varian to Trim Jobs, Sell Assets

Varian Associates Inc., which manufactures electron devices and analytical instruments, said today it will sell some non-core operations and product lines to improve its long-term performance.

As a result of the restructuring, it will take a pretax charge of $74 million against third-quarter earnings and report a loss for the period. In last year’s third quarter, Varian earned $9.1 million.

The company said it will scale down its worldwide work force.

The combined effect of the asset sales and job eliminations will reduce the work force to under 10,000 from 12,000, Varian said, including a 20% cut in corporate staff, eliminating 600 jobs by the Sept. 29 fiscal year end.

It said activities to be sold include Continental Electronics in Dallas and TVT Ltd. in Cambridge, England, makers of high-power transmitters for broadcasting. It will also sell units in Palo Alto and Santa Clara that make night vision goggles and solid-state circuits.