Dentsply confirms plans for laboratory business restructuring

Dentsply has announced that it will be moving ahead with the restructuring of parts of its laboratory business, in line with plans it announced last September.

The company has reached agreement with the relevant works councils in Germany to press on with the plans, which will involve the closure of one German manufacturing site and the downsizing of another.

With the realignment of the lab division, Dentsply is planning to increase its emphasis on the innovative prosthetic materials field, while exiting portions of the lab equipment and fabrication businesses.

The company expects to incur total costs in the range of $33 to $38 million (21.55 million pounds to 24.81 million pounds) related to this initiative, the majority of which are expected to be recorded in the fiscal second quarter of 2015.

Most of this work will be implemented during the remainder of 2015 and 2016, with the move ultimately set to align with Dentsply's ongoing efficiency improvement efforts.

Initiatives such as this helped the firm to deliver a better-than-expected performance during the first quarter of 2015, despite challenging economic conditions.