Screen capture of Wi-LAN homepage.
Wi-LAN says it will be restructuring the business by the end of this year and slashing the company's dividend by 76 per cent starting in January in response to a difficult environment for patent licensing companies.
The Ottawa-based company says the restructuring will affect about 30 per cent of its work force but it wasn't immediately clear whether some would be transferred to a new research and development company that Wi-LAN is planning to spin off.
It says the restructuring will reduce cash operating expenses by between US$8-million and $10-million per year.
Wi-LAN also says it will cut what it pays in dividends, which are paid in Canadian currency, to five cents per share annually from 21 cents per share. The Jan. 6 dividend will be 1.25 cents per share, down from 5.25 cents payable Oct. 6.
For the first nine months of 2014, it recorded US$15.2-million in dividend payments under the old rate.
The restructuring and dividend cut were announced Wednesday with Wi-LAN's third-quarter financial report, which showed its revenue from licensing patents was down 12 per cent from a year ago and its adjusted earnings fell about seven per cent.
Wi-LAN's revenue for the three months ended Sept. 30 was US$21.4-million, adjusted earnings were US$12.2-million or 10 cents per share and net income under U.S. accounting rules was $829,000.
In the third quarter of 2014, reported in U.S. currency, Wi-LAN's revenue was $24.7-million, adjusted earnings were $13.2-million or 11 cents per share and the company had a net loss of $375,000.