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17 Jun 2002
US laser eye surgery equipment manufacturer VISX has cut its earnings forecasts for 2001, claiming that a slowdown in demand for corrective surgery has hit the industry.
VISX chief executive Mark Logan said: "The industry was one of the first to feel the effect of an economic downturn. We do not see robust growth returning through at least the first two quarters of 2001."
The company shipped just 49 lasers in its fourth quarter and saw revenues drop accordingly to USD 42 million from USD 75 million in the same period last year. Yearly revenue in 2000 was USD 200 million, compared with USD 271 million in 1999.
Logan said that there were no immediate plans for lay-offs or any other cost cuts, saying that VISX was already a tightly-run ship.
On a more positive note, the company says that the first clinical trials of its wavefront-corrected custom ablation system had gone well, with more than 80% of treated patients showing "better than 20:20" vision.
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