FARO Announces Global Reduction in Force of 14%

LAKE MARY, Fla., April 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FARO Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: FARO) today announced a global reduction in force driven by continued economic weakness. This reduction is in addition to a 7% reduction announced on February 20, 2009.

The reduction, effective immediately, impacts approximately 14% of FARO's workforce across all functions. The Company expects to save approximately $7.4 million on an annual basis and will incur a first quarter charge of approximately $0.5 million related to severance costs.

"Unfortunately, economic conditions continue to affect us," stated Jay Freeland, FARO's President and CEO. "First quarter sales for 2009 will be approximately 32% lower than the same quarter last year. While we believe the long-term outlook for FARO remains strong, this reduction in force is a necessary precaution to position the Company for the balance of the year," Freeland concluded.

The Company will provide further details when it reports first quarter financial results, currently scheduled for the end of April.

This press release contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) that are subject to risks and uncertainties, such as statements about our plans, objectives, projections, expectations, assumptions, strategies, or future events. Statements that are not historical facts or that describe the Company's plans, objectives, projections, expectations, assumptions, strategies, or goals are forward-looking statements. In addition, words such as "may," "believes," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "seeks," "estimates," "will," "should," "could," "projects," "forecast," "target," "goal," and similar expressions or discussions of our strategy or other intentions identify forward-looking statements. Other written or oral statements, which constitute forward-looking statements, also may be made by the Company from time to time. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to various known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results, performances, or achievements to differ materially from future results, performances, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Consequently, undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

    --  our inability to further penetrate our customer base;
    --  development by others of new or improved products, processes or
        technologies that make our products obsolete or less competitive;
    --  our inability to maintain our technological advantage by developing
        new products and enhancing our existing products;
    --  our inability to successfully identify and acquire target companies or
        achieve expected benefits from acquisitions that are consummated;
    --  the cyclical nature of the industries of our customers and material
        adverse changes in our customers' access to liquidity and capital;
    --  a slowdown or other adverse changes in industries that the Company
        serves or the domestic and international economies in the regions of
        the world where the Company operates and other general economic,
        business, and financing conditions;
    --  the fact that the market potential for the CAM2 market and the
        potential adoption rate for our products are difficult to quantify and
        predict;
    --  the inability to protect our patents and other proprietary rights in
        the United States and foreign countries;
    --  fluctuations in our annual and quarterly operating results and the
        inability to achieve our financial operating targets as a result of a
        number of factors including, without limitation (i) litigation and
        regulatory action brought against us, (ii) quality issues with our
        products, (iii) excess or obsolete inventory, (iv) raw material price
        fluctuations, (v) expansion of our manufacturing capability and other
        inflationary pressures, (vi) the size and timing of customer orders,
        (vii) the amount of time that it takes to fulfill orders and ship our
        products, (viii) the length of our sales cycle to new customers and
        the time and expense incurred in further penetrating our existing
        customer base, (ix) increases in operating expenses required for
        product development and new product, marketing, (x) costs associated
        with new product introductions, such as product development,
        marketing, assembly line start-up costs and low introductory period
        production volumes, (xi) the timing and market acceptance of new
        products and product enhancements, (xii) customer order deferrals in
        anticipation of new products and product enhancements, (xiii) our
        success in expanding our sales and marketing programs, (xiv) start-up
        costs associated with opening new sales offices outside of the United
        States, (xv) fluctuations in revenue without proportionate adjustments
        in fixed costs, (xvi) the efficiencies achieved in managing
        inventories and fixed assets, (xvii) investments in potential
        acquisitions or strategic sales, product or other initiatives, (xviii)
        shrinkage or other inventory losses due to product obsolescence, scrap
        or material price changes, (xix) adverse changes in the manufacturing
        industry and general economic conditions, (xx)  compliance with
        government regulations including health, safety, and environmental
        matters, (xxi) the ultimate costs of the Company's monitoring
        obligations in respect of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA")
        matter; and (xxii) other factors noted herein;
    --  changes in gross margins due to changing product mix of products sold
        and the different gross margins on different products;
    --  our inability to successfully maintain the requirements of Restriction
        of use of Hazardous Substances ("RoHS") and Waste Electrical and
        Electronic Equipment ("WEEE") compliance into our products;
    --  the inability of our products to displace traditional measurement
        devices and attain broad market acceptance;
    --  the impact of competitive products and pricing in the CAM2 market and
        the broader market for measurement and inspection devices;
    --  the effects of increased competition as a result of recent
        consolidation in the CAM2 market;
    --  risks associated with expanding international operations, such as
        fluctuations in currency exchange rates, difficulties in staffing and
        managing foreign operations, political and economic instability,
        compliance with import and export regulations, and the burdens and
        potential exposure of complying with a wide variety of U.S. and
        foreign laws and labor practices;
    --  the loss of our Chief Executive Officer or other key personnel;
    --  difficulties in recruiting research and development engineers, and
        application engineers;
    --  the failure to effectively manage our growth;
    --  variations in the effective income tax rate and the difficulty in
        predicting the tax rate on a quarterly and annual basis; and
    --  the loss of key suppliers and the inability to find sufficient
        alternative suppliers in a reasonable period or on commercially
        reasonable terms.

    --  the other risks detailed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K
        and other filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange
        Commission.

Forward-looking statements in this release represent the Company's judgment as of the date of this release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

About FARO

With approximately 19,000 installations and 9,000 customers globally, FARO Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, and markets portable, computerized measurement devices and software used to create digital models -- or to perform evaluations against an existing model -- for anything requiring highly detailed 3-D measurements, including part and assembly inspection, factory planning and asset documentation, as well as specialized applications ranging from surveying, recreating accident sites and crime scenes to digitally preserving historical sites.

FARO's technology increases productivity by dramatically reducing the amount of on-site measuring time, and the various industry-specific software packages enable users to process and present their results quickly and more effectively.

Principal products include the world's best-selling portable measurement arm -- the FaroArm; the world's best-selling laser tracker -- the FARO Laser Tracker X and Xi; the FARO Laser ScanArm; FARO Photon Laser Scanners; the FARO Gage, Gage-PLUS and PowerGAGE; and the CAM2 Q family of advanced CAD-based measurement and reporting software. FARO Technologies is ISO-9001 certified and ISO-17025 laboratory registered.

SOURCE FARO Technologies, Inc.
CONTACT: Keith Bair, Senior Vice President and CFO, keith.bair@FARO.com,
+1-407-333-9911/
(FARO)

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding FARO Technologies Inc's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.