Oct 3 2009
Front Entry Doors for Manufactured Homes
Drew Industries Incorporated (NYSE: DW), a leading supplier of components for recreational vehicles (RV) and manufactured homes, today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Kinro purchased from Philips Products, Inc. certain inventory and equipment used for the production of front entry doors for manufactured homes. The $1 million transaction was funded from available cash.
"Not only will this acquisition increase the overall Drew-supplied content per manufactured home, it also adds a new product category for Drew," said Fred Zinn, Drew's President and CEO. "We estimate that the current annual market for front entry doors for newly produced manufactured homes is about $12 million to $15 million. In addition, we believe there is a similar size market for replacement doors for the millions of existing manufactured homes."
Elkhart, Ind.-based Philips Products had made windows and front entry doors for manufactured housing before ceasing these operations in July 2009. Kinro, which already has a significant market share in windows for manufactured homes, will begin to manufacture entry doors at plants in Indiana and South Carolina within approximately 30 days.
"Because of our innovative designs and product enhancements, we have had tremendous success with our entry doors for RVs, which we introduced late last year," said Scott Mereness, Vice President of Kinro. "We plan to leverage this experience, as well as the strong relationships we maintain with producers of manufactured homes and aftermarket distributors, to gain significant market share for entry doors in the manufactured housing industry."
Slide-out Storage Box for Pick-Up Trucks
Drew's wholly-owned subsidiary, Lippert Components, recently acquired the rights to the patent-pending design for a tool box containing a slide-out storage tray. This newly-designed product, used in pick-up trucks, tow trucks and other mobile service vehicles, will be produced at the Company's existing manufacturing plants, with existing management, utilizing production techniques with which the Company has extensive experience. The purchase price was $400,000, plus a commission based on future sales of the product during the next 6 years.
"This is a great new product design, and the initial response has been very encouraging," said Jason Lippert, President and CEO of Drew's subsidiaries, Lippert Components and Kinro. "Over the coming months, we intend to aggressively develop this new market."
"Both of these developments are in line with our strategy of utilizing our financial strength to seize opportunities to expand our product lines," said Zinn. "With more than $45 million of cash and short-term investments, and no debt, we have the resources to continue to pursue growth opportunities. Based on current sales trends and our management of working capital, we expect to continue to generate solid cash flow."
Source: http://www.drewindustries.com/