Broadwind Energy, Inc. (BWEN) Strategic Footprint Reduction Progress Strips Away Excess Manufacturing Capacity, Improves Balance Sheet

Broadwind, an energy infrastructure developer with several decades in the game, reported selling off an idle tower plant over in Brandon, South Dakota, as part of a planned (announced in Q3 2011) 600k sq. ft. reduction of their manufacturing footprint, raking in reported proceeds of $11.7M (net of closing costs).

CEO of BWEN, Peter Duprey, was clearly proud of the progress made ahead of expected shifts in demand for wind towers and underscored the importance of this move’s second major component, diversifying BWEN’s industry concentration. By significantly lowering fixed overhead and simultaneously beefing up the company’s balance sheet, BWEN is doing some serious shareholder fan-service, while better positioning the company long term, both logistically and with regard to the target market spread.

Roughly 29.9% of the proceeds ($3.5M) will go into paying off the balance of the plant mortgage, but the rest goes right into the company’s pool of available corporate funds and signifies completion of a full two-thirds of the targeted footprint reduction (400k sq. ft.). It is a big sigh of relief coming out of last year’s listing of the property, as the company moves into a tighter configuration alongside projected wind tower demand.

From industrial/wind turbine gearing and weldments, to towers and full wind turbine services, BWEN has built a strong reputation within the various industries it has served over the years (hydrocarbon recovery, mining, and wind power), with almost nine decades today in gearing for turbines alone. Broadwind, via Brad Foote Gear Works, has become a name in many industry circles which is synonymous with high-quality gearing. Bard Foote was founded back in 1924 and stands today as one of the top global manufacturers of precision gearing.

The company has done the numbers and sees no problem aligning with customer demand curves via their remaining two main plants, confident that ample production capacity to meet demand over the next several years exists. This news comes just twenty days after a big order from a domestic wind turbine company for some $14M worth of hardware (Apr 2) slated to be produced at their facility in Abilene, Texas (Q3/Q4 2013 delivery).

For more info on Broadwind Energy, www.BWEN.com

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