Menomonee Falls-based EnSync Inc. cut 25 jobs on Feb. 14 as it continues to seek short-term financing to continue operations, according to a securities filing.
The company, which designs and builds renewable energy systems for commercial customers, had 64 employees as of June 30, 2018 with offices in Menomonee Falls, Madison, California, Hawaii and China. Its Wisconsin operations generally focus on design, software and prototyping.
EnSync has seen significant changes over the last month, including the departure of chief executive officer and director Bradley Hansen on Jan. 23. Four other board members, including chairman Paul Koeppe, stepped down Feb. 11.
The departures, along with a low stock price for several months, leave the company at risk of being delisted from the NYSE.
EnSync has retained Novo Advisors to provide restructuring advice. Sandeep Gupta, co-founder and managing partner of Novo, was named interim CEO and chief restructuring officer.
As recently as November, Hansen spoke glowingly on the company’s earnings call about the potential market for EnSync’s business. The company had increased revenue in the first quarter, narrowed its net loss and had 10 power purchase agreements projects in its backlog worth around $13.8 million.
EnSync typically would reach PPAs with building owners or offtakers to purchase energy from renewable energy systems it develops. The company also tries to reach agreements to sell the systems to third-party developers.
But in previous filings the company has said an offtaker for a “sizeable” project briefly terminated an agreement before changing its mind. The brief termination triggered problems with third-party sale, delays in equipment shipments and stress on relationships with suppliers.
Those problems created a short-term financing need for EnSync, leading to the “reduction-in-force” the company conducted last week.
