GTSI cuts staff by 10 percent

GTSI announced today that it is reducing its workforce by about 10 percent in an effort to reposition the company for fiscal 2006.

The company employed about 900 people before the reduction, according to a GTSI spokesman.

The layoffs follow a period of hiring at GTSI, which was part of a growth initiative. In 2004, company executives announced plans to double revenue to $2 billion by 2007. GTSI had hired about 175 people since the second quarter of 2004, when the company employed 725.

However, a problematic software installation has dogged GTSI in recent months. An enterprise resource planning initiative slowed the company’s operations and contributed to a 33 percent decline in sales and a net loss of $8.1 million for the company’s second quarter, which ended in June.

GTSI said it will provide additional details on its workforce actions when it releases third-quarter earnings in early November. In the meantime, the company reported September bookings of $260 million, which the company called the highest monthly total in its history.

Despite those bookings, GTSI “concluded that we must streamline and realign our sales and support team activities to best meet the rapidly changing needs of our government customer,” said Dendy Young, GTSI’s chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement.

The company’s share price rose 3 percent to $7.44 by late Friday afternoon.