Photo | Courtesy of Waters Corp.
Udit Batra, president & CEO of Waters Corp.
August 1, 2024
Waters Corp. scales back presence in China after sales slump
Video screenshot | Courtesy of Waters Corp.
The Waters Corp. new $16-million facility in Bengaluru, India
Milford-based Waters Corp. saw declining sales across markets in the second quarter of 2024, as the company disclosed it has scaled back its headcount in China.
Sales for Waters Corp. in the second quarter were $709 million. This figure exceeded the company’s previous estimated guidance for the quarter, but represented a decrease of 4% compared to $751 million in sales seen in the same quarter in 2023, according to an earnings press release issued by Waters Corp. on Wednesday.
The company’s sales in the academic and government market decreased 15% in the second quarter, sales of instrument systems fell 14%, sales into the industrial market dropped 4%, and pharmaceutical market sales decreased 3%.
In March 2024, Waters Corp. laid off approximately 2% of its workforce, primarily in China, as the result of a significant reduction in customer demand in that market, according to the company’s second quarter filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
With 8,000 global employees in the first quarter of 2024, according to data provided to the WBJ Research Department, a 2% reduction in headcount would leave the company with 7,840 employees.
The company has an administration, sales, and service facility in Beijing and a research, administration, sales and service site in Shanghai, among 21 primary company facilities around the globe, according to Waters Corp.’s annual filing for fiscal 2023.
The sales decline was spread across the company’s global presence, but was led by the company’s operations in China and Japan, as sales in Asia decreased 7% during the quarter. Sales fell 3% in the Americas and also fell 3% in Europe.
Despite the sales slump, the company is optimistic that the second half of the year will bring the return of growth.
"Our team executed well to deliver second quarter results that exceeded both our top-line and bottom-line reported guidance," Udit Batra, president & CEO of Waters Corp, said in the Wednesday press release. "Our margins remained resilient, thanks to our disciplined approach to operational management, which offset headwinds from volume, currency, and inflation. We continue to build positive momentum in our business and expect to return to growth in the second half of the year.”
The company’s decline in sales revenue was compounded by unfavorable foreign currency exchange rates, which led to a headwind of approximately 5%.
Eric Casey is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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Anonymous
August 4, 2024
The morale and culture at Waters has been deteriorating for years under Udit’s leadership and his organizational changes have proved ineffective at best. Layoffs are now very routine at the company.
Anonymous
August 1, 2024
Batra has been saying the same thing every quarter for two years. Margins, disciplined approach, etc. - the rhetoric is old. He’s killed the culture and spirit at Waters (do some reporting on it) and now his days as CEO are numbered.
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