UPDATE: Can Triumph grow by closing factories?
Crowley streamlines aircraft parts supplier
FRIDAY: "Management is taking the right and necessary steps, but we are (not recommending the stock) until we get better visiblity on the timing and execution of the restructuring" and the speed with which new client projects will replace declines in current military and commercial sales, wrote Ken Herbert, analyst for Canaccord Genuity Inc., in a report to clients.
WEDNESDAY: Shares of Triumph Group Inc. rose as high as $37.81 on Wednesday, from yesterday's close of $34.55, after Daniel Crowley, new chief executive at the Chesterbrook-based aircraft-parts maker and service conglomerate, announced plans to close nearly one-quarter of the company's factory space. Triumph operates dozens of plants, many of them in the Midwest.
Most of the cuts in Crowley's "One Triumph" reorganization will fall on its money-losing Aerostructures division, which has plants in Kansas and other states. The company depends on civilian and military contracts, which require careful longterm planning to manage profitably. Crowley, a former Raytheon Corp. executive, was brought in to run Triumph last winter after founder Richard C. Ill retired.
Crowley also plans to consolidate 47 business units into just 22, eliminating the need for some middle managers, while adding new senior managers; and to standardize business processes.