Datum to Reduce Staff, Merge Operations in Bid to Cut Costs

Datum Inc., an Irvine-based maker of precision timing systems, said Tuesday it will cut about 20 jobs and combine operations in Massachusetts and San Jose to reduce costs and eliminate duplicate positions and services.

The company will form a test and measurement division with sales, marketing and administrative functions based in Beverly, Mass. Some other administrative and manufacturing operations in San Jose will be moved to the company’s headquarters in Irvine.

“That was a small facility and it just didn’t make sense to keep it open,” said Erik van der Kaay, chairman and chief executive.

The moves will streamline test and measurement operations, which account for 15% of the company’s revenue, van der Kaay said.

Datum expects to have moving and severance costs of $500,000, or 5 cents a share, in the third quarter. Datum also said it expects an increase in sales and earnings from the second quarter because of the healthy market and backlog levels.

Datum lost $620,000, or 11 cents a share, on sales of $25 million for the third quarter last year.

The company said it expects savings of more than 10 cents a share in 2001 from the consolidation.

The company lost $1.15 million, or 20 cents a share, including a $1.3-million merger expense, on sales of $100.2 million in 1999. The company is expected to earn 38 cents a share this year, according to a survey of analysts by First Call/Thomson Financial.

Datum’s stock gained $1.13 a share Tuesday, closing at $24 in Nasdaq trading. The shares have increased nearly 150% so far this year.