Cohr Hires Lehman Bros. as Advisor

Cohr Inc. has hired Lehman Bros. as its financial advisor to help determine its future and focus on enhancing shareholder value, the Chatsworth-based health-care outsourcing company said. Cohr’s board has not yet determined if the company will be put up for sale or whether to pursue other courses of action. It also said it does not expect to meet analysts’ expectations for fiscal third-quarter earnings, estimated at about 23 cents a share. The company expects to report pretax charges of up to about $8 million for the quarter, which ends today. Cohr said about $2.2 million of the expected charges relate to an increase in the allowance for doubtful accounts receivable and about $3.2 million relates to its contracts. Cohr reported net income of $1.3 million, or 23 cents a share, on revenue of $23.5 million for the year-ago third quarter. Shares of Cohr ended at $11.75 before their trading was halted on Nasdaq.