COHR'S YEAR-END PROBLEMS TWOFOLD; CHATSWORTH COMPANY FACES CHARGE, FOR SALE.

Byline: Ben Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

Chatsworth-based Cohr Inc. closed a dismal year with a double dose of disappointing news Tuesday.

The medical equipment outsourcing company said it will take a special third-quarter charge of about $8 million and as a result will widely miss analysts' earnings estimates.

In the same prepared statement, Cohr officials said the investment banking firm Lehman Brothers has been hired to, among other things, look for potential buyers of the company.

``It was not good news in any sense of the word,'' said Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Roxanne Cheng.

The $8 million charge partly stems from severance pay for former CEO Paul Chopra, who was ousted by the company's board of directors last month. But $2.2 million of the write-off comes from bills not expected to be collected.

An additional $3.2 million is earmarked largely for rebates to members of Cohr's medical supplies group purchasing plan. Cohr guarantees savings to its plan members, and if it can't generate them through negotiation with suppliers, it must make good on them from its own cash.

Cohr officials were unavailable for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Ryan Rauch, an analyst at CIBC Oppenheimer, said Cohr's woes are partly attributable to weak operating infrastructure, particularly its ability to collect money owed it.

Cheng and Rauch said that if sold, Cohr likely would go for at most its trailing annual revenue of $101 million, or $15.75 a share.

Cohr's announcements came after the close of trading Tuesday. Cohr closed down 12 cents at $11.75. It has lost 56.5 percent of its value this year, and was trading as high as $28 on Jan. 31.