Pittsburgh In the wake of a restructuring that saw a 10-percent reduction in its work force and the closing of a plant, Respironics Inc. warned that earnings for its fiscal 2000 first quarter would likely be only 14 cents per share, 4 cents off analysts' estimates.

Revenues for the quarter ending Sept. 30 were expected to drop 5 percent from the $86.4 million in the same quarter the year before, officials said. James Liken, president and chief executive officer, said the company's recent reorganization "was a significant distraction and did impact our selling efforts during the current quarter."

In addition, officials said, the revenue decrease includes the impact of a change in distribution in Germany. That will not affect company profitability, they said, but will affect sales comparisons for the first quarter by about $2 million.

Liken said cost savings associated with restructuring, expected to be about $10 million annually, should be obvious beginning in the third quarter of fiscal 2000.

After its announcement this summer that its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings had decreased by 69 percent, the company embarked on a restructuring that entailed cutting its work force by 10 percent, closing its Westminster, Colo., manufacturing plant and 19 customer-satisfaction centers, and downsizing its Marietta, Ga., plant. It also opened a centralized distribution and repair center in Youngwood, Pa.

The mid-September news of the earnings revision sent analysts scrambling to revise their performance estimates. ING Barings lowered its quarterly forecast to 14 cents a share from 18 cents, bringing it in line with company predictions. For fiscal 2000, ING Barings lowered its forecast from 92 cents to 88 cents a share.

Meanwhile, Respironics' board of directors authorized the repurchase of an additional 1 million shares of the company's common stock, increasing the total buy-back authorization to 4 million shares. Repurchased shares are added to the company's treasury shares and may be used to meet common stock requirements of employee benefit plans and stock-option plans and for other corporate purposes, officials said. Since the program began in August 1998, the company has repurchased about 2.6 million shares.