Boston’s Charles River Assoc., a financial services technology vendor, has reported $266,000 in net income for its fiscal first quarter, the 12 weeks ended Feb. 19, compared to net income of $534,000 in the first quarter of fiscal 2009.

The poor results will result in staffing cutbacks, including reducing 47 positions. The company expects to save approximately $8.9 million and expects the move to result in a restructuring charge of between $4.9 million and $5.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2010, according to a statement.

Charles River Assoc. is also closing its Houston office and will not fill positions in its administrative operations.

"Our first-quarter performance was well below our expectations," said Paul Maleh, CRA’s president and chief executive officer. "Clients remained cautious with their spending and this affected most areas of our business. The momentum that we saw late in fiscal 2009 within our management consulting business did not carry through to the first quarter."

He added: "Our litigation-related business remained sluggish, running at approximately the same utilization we experienced during the fourth quarter. Although there were some bright spots this quarter, among them our European Competition group and a few of our smaller practices, this growth was not substantial enough to offset the declines we experienced across a number of our larger practices."