Following Encorium Group’s announcement of plans to sell its assets, the Wayne, Pa.-based contract research organization (CRO) released its first quarter financial results earlier this week, reporting a significant decrease in net loss for Q1 2009 compared with the same period last year.

Encorium’s loss for the quarter was $195,220, or $(0.01) per diluted share, down from $2 million, or $(0.10) per diluted share, in the first quarter 2008. Encorium CEO David Ginsburg attributed the decrease to staff reductions and a reduction in overhead expenses.

“We are very pleased with the results of our cost-cutting efforts, which significantly reduced our direct expenses and SG&A to better align our costs to our current book of business, ” Ginsburg said in a company statement.

Net revenues for the first quarter of 2009 were also down from the same period last year. Revenue for the quarter was $7 million, down 6.1% from $7.5 million last year.

Encorium has entered into two non-binding letters of intent to sell the assets of its U.S. operations and its European subsidiary, Encorium Oy. The first letter of intent, for the U.S. business, is with Italian CRO Pierrel SpA. The company did not release any specific information about the pending European deal, other than to say it’s with a global clinical research organization based in the U.S.