Arch Chemicals Sells DanChem Operations and Announces Unrelated Headcount Reductions.Business Editors NORWALK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 4, 2002 Arch Chemicals Founded in 1999, Arch Chemicals (NYSE: ARJ) is a biocides company with over a billion dollars in annual sales. It consists of four divisions:
See: New York Stock Exchange : ARJ A compression program for backup archiving from ARJ Software, Inc., Norwood, MA (www.arjsoftware.com). Introduced in the early 1990s and created by Robert Jung (the RJ in ARJ), ARJ never achieved the popularity of PKZIP, although it is considered a worthy competitor. See JAR. ) announced that it has completed the sale of its DanChem operations, a specialty chemical A Specialty chemical is a chemical produced for a specialized use. They are produced in lower volume than bulk chemicals, of which petrochemicals, made from oil feedstocks, are the most common. However, both are produced in a chemical plant. contract manufacturer located in Danville, Virginia Danville is an independent city in Virginia, bounded by Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Caswell County, North Carolina. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Danville with Pittsylvania county for statistical purposes under the Danville, Virginia Metropolitan , to a portfolio company of American Capital Strategies Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACAS ACAS Cardiology A clinical trial–Asymptomatic Carotid Atherosclerosis Study which evaluated the 5-yr risk of fatal and non-fatal stroke-primary outcome in Pts with asymptomatic but severe carotid atherosclerosis. See Carotid stenosis. ). DanChem management made a cash equity investment in the buyout, and the company has been renamed DanChem Technologies, Inc. DanChem, a business within the former Hickson Organics Division, was held for sale since Arch's acquisition of Hickson International PLC. Proceeds from the sale were approximately $25 million. Michael E. Campbell, Arch's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "The completion of this transaction marks a significant milestone in our plan to successfully complete the sale of the non-strategic assets acquired in the Hickson transaction. The proceeds from the sale will be used to pay down debt, continuing our stated goal of reducing our debt levels." Arch Chemicals acquired the wood protection, coatings and organic chemicals businesses of Hickson International in August of 2000. While the Company successfully completed the integration of the wood protection and coatings operations into its portfolio last year, it viewed the organics division as non-strategic and announced its intention to divest that division at the time of its acquisition. In addition to the Danville, Virginia operations, the former Hickson Organics Division also has manufacturing operations Manufacturing operations concern the operation of a facility, as opposed to maintenance, supply and distribution, health, and safety, emergency response, human resources, security, information technology and other infrastructural support organizations. in Castleford, England. Arch continues to pursue the divestiture of the Castleford facility. On an unrelated matter, as part of the Company's overall strategy to reduce costs, Arch Chemicals announced approximately 200 headcount reductions associated with the reorganization of certain businesses, including its Microelectronic Materials, Performance urethanes and HTH (chat) HTH - Hope This Helps. Often used sarcastically, see HAND. Water Products businesses. A restructuring charge restructuring charge The expense of reorganizing a company's operations. A restructuring charge is an infrequent expense that generally results from asset writedowns or facility closings. of approximately $7 million will be recorded in the first quarter of 2002 for severance and employee benefit costs related to these workforce reductions. The Company expects these cost reduction initiatives to be cash neutral in 2002, and cash and earnings accretive in 2003. About Arch Headquartered in Norwalk, CT, Arch Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE: ARJ) is a global specialty chemicals company with 3,000 employees, annual sales of approximately $1 billion, and leadership positions in five key segments: Microelectronic Materials, HTH Water Products, Treatment Products, Performance Products and Other Specialty Products. The Company supplies world leaders For a list of heads of state, see . World leaders is a MMORPG. The game involves creating a state, joining an alliance and going into war. It is mostly played by players from Israel, China, USA, Britain, Brazil and Saudi-Arabia. in these markets with forward-looking solutions that meet their chemical needs. The Company's main web site is www.archchemicals.com. Except for historical information contained herein, the information set forth in this communication contains forward-looking statements that are based on management's beliefs, certain assumptions made by management and management's current expectations, estimates and projections about the markets and economy in which the Company and its various businesses operate. Words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "forecasts," "opines Opines are low molecular weight compounds found in plant crown gall tumors produced by the parasitic bacterium Agrobacterium. Opine biosynthesis is catalyzed by specific enzymes encoded by genes contained in a small segment of DNA (known as the T-DNA, for 'transfer DNA') ," "plans," "predicts," "projects," "should," "targets," "will," and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions ("Future Factors"), which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expected or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of future events, new information or otherwise. Future factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed include but are not limited to: general economic and business and market conditions; lack of economic recovery in the second half of 2002 in the U.S.; lack of moderate growth or recession in European economies; increases in interest rates; economic conditions in Asia; strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the euro; customer acceptance of new products; efficacy of new technology; changes in U.S. laws and regulations; increased competitive and/or customer pressure; the Company's ability to maintain chemical price increases; higher-than-expected raw material costs for certain chemical product lines; increased foreign competition in the calcium hypochlorite calcium hypochlorite n. A white crystalline solid used as a bactericide, fungicide, and bleaching agent. markets; further deterioration in the semiconductor industry and lack of recovery in the second half of 2002; unfavorable court, arbitration or jury decisions; the supply/demand balance for the Company's products, including the impact of excess industry capacity; failure to achieve targeted cost reduction programs; unsuccessful entry into new markets for electronic chemicals; capital expenditures in excess of those scheduled; environmental costs in excess of those projected; the occurrence of unexpected manufacturing interruptions/outages at customer or company plants; unfavorable weather conditions for swimming pool use; gains or losses on derivative instruments Derivative instruments Contracts such as options and futures whose price is derived from the price of an underlying financial asset. ; and the inability of the Company to sell the Hickson organics' Castleford operations at its desired price. |
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