The Eastern Company Provides COVID-19 Business Update
April 14 2020 - 2:05PM
Business Wire
- Taking actions to protect the health and
safety of our employees
- Continuing essential operations to serve our
customers’ needs
- Sustaining Eastern’s solid financial position
and liquidity
- Stepping in to assist and protect our
communities
The Eastern Company (“Eastern”) (NASDAQ:EML), an industrial
manufacturer of unique engineered solutions serving niche
industrial markets, today provided an update on the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's business and the many actions it
has taken to respond.
President and CEO August Vlak commented, "COVID-19 has affected
everyone at Eastern. We recognize the health and economic
devastation caused by the pandemic. At this time, our top
priorities have been to protect the health and welfare of our
employees; to continue serving our customers; and to navigate
today’s challenges so that we are in a strong position when the
environment improves. We have taken decisive actions to mitigate
the financial impact to our businesses, to ensure that we continue
to maintain ample liquidity and protect our ability to generate
long term value for our shareholders. In addition, I am proud of
our businesses for finding innovative ways to contribute to the
fight against the pandemic in the communities in which they
operate.”
Across the Company, we have implemented a broad range of
policies and procedures to ensure that employees across all our
locations remain healthy. We listened to and learned a great deal
from our colleagues in China, who began feeling the impact of
COVID-19 in late 2019, and took early-on decisive action across our
North American operations, accordingly. Steps that we have taken to
reduce COVID-19 risk to our employees include, among others:
implementing social distancing measures, staggering staff and
shifts, enabling work from home for as many employees as possible,
and implementing an enhanced cleaning program across all sites. We
are advising our employees on the importance of wearing face masks
to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. We continue to seek and
implement additional methods to continue to reduce COVID-19 risk to
our employees.
As of April 10, all our domestic businesses are considered
Essential Business or critical suppliers to Essential Business in
the nine states where we operate, and 13 of our 18 locations in
North America and all of our three Asian locations are operating.
While we have experienced some minor disruptions in a few of our
locations, at this time, we are able to serve our customers and
meet demand for our products.
The Company has taken decisive action to maintain financial
flexibility. We believe that Eastern has a solid balance sheet with
ample resources to operate in the current business environment. Our
management team has run a range of scenarios for 2020 and 2021, and
we believe that the strength of our businesses and the actions we
have taken to control our expenses are sufficient to withstand a
significant economic downturn. We have suspended all hiring for
salaried positions, ceased discretionary spending, temporarily
reduced work hours, initiated furloughs, cancelled certain
regularly scheduled merit-based salary increases, and limited
capital spending to critical maintenance, safety, and regulatory
projects. In addition, we are also working closely with our lenders
to keep them informed of the developments in our businesses.
In times of crisis, it is more important than ever for companies
to step in and contribute to the health and safety of our
communities. Our Big 3 Precision subsidiary responded to the
anticipated hospital bed shortages due to the pandemic and has
begun the production of frames for emergency response hospital beds
that can be used by healthcare facilities across the U.S. and the
world. Several of our businesses are contributing safety masks to
healthcare workers, including our Velvac subsidiary, which donated
7,000 safety masks to hospitals in its community.
Mr. Vlak concluded, “I am proud of our employees for working
together during the crisis. The high degree of collaboration
reflects our Company’s 161-year history of working together, during
which we have successfully weathered many storms. By making tough
and necessary decisions we believe that we are better positioned to
navigate future uncertainties and disruptions caused by COVID-19
and to maintain a healthy business. In the meantime, our thoughts
and sympathies are with those adversely impacted by the virus.”
About The Eastern Company
The Eastern Company is a 161 year old company which manages
industrial businesses that design, manufacture and sell unique
engineered solutions to niche markets, focusing on industries that
offer long-term macroeconomic growth opportunities. The Company
operates in three business segments -- Industrial Hardware,
Security Products and Metal Products -- from 21 locations in the
U.S., Canada, Mexico, U.K., Taiwan and China.
Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this document about our future expectations,
beliefs, goals, plans or prospects constitute forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the rules,
regulations and releases of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Any statements that are not statements of historical fact,
including statements containing the words "believes," "intends,"
"continues," "reflects," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," and
similar expressions, should also be considered to be
forward-looking statements. Readers should not place undue reliance
on these forward-looking statements, which are based upon
management's current beliefs and expectations. These
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties,
and actual results might differ materially from those discussed in,
or implied by, the forward-looking statements. Among the risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ
materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements
include, but are not limited to changing customer preferences, lack
of success of new products, loss of customers, cybersecurity
breaches, changes in competition in our markets, and increased
prices for raw materials resulting from tariffs on imported goods
or otherwise. There are important, additional factors that could
cause actual results or events to differ materially from those
indicated by such forward-looking statements, including those set
forth in our reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. We undertake no obligation to update, alter, or
otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, whether written or
oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of
new information, future events, or otherwise.
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The Eastern Company August Vlak or John L. Sullivan
III, 203-729-2255
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