In a bid to improve margins, Xscribe...

In a bid to improve margins, Xscribe Corp. said it will lay off 50 full-time employees and 22 part-time workers and consultants. The job cuts bring Xscribe’s payroll to 275. Xscribe manufactures a line of computer-aided transcription devices for the court reporting industry.

The layoffs are part of companywide program to cut overhead, a program that also involves cuts in corporate travel, telephone and entertainment expenses, chief financial officer Donald Quackenbush said. The company has suffered from delays in shipping a new product as well as from competitive pricing pressures, he said.

For the six months ended Sept. 30, Xscribe reported a loss of $1.8 million on sales of $15.1 million, contrasted with a profit of $1.2 million on sales of $17 million over the same two quarters last year.