Business
The Eastern Company Reports First Quarter 2020 Results; Net Sales Increase 7% to $65.3 Million; First Quarter 2020 Earnings Grow 84% to $0.46 Per Share
NAUGATUCK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Eastern Company (“Eastern”) (NASDAQ:EML), an industrial manufacturer of unique engineered solutions serving niche
About this update from Eastern Company (the)
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n\n NAUGATUCK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nThe Eastern Company (“Eastern”) (NASDAQ:EML), an industrial manufacturer of unique engineered solutions serving niche industrial markets, today announced the results of operations for the first quarter ended March 28, 2020 and its response to the current COVID-19 pandemic.\n\n\nPresident and CEO August Vlak commented, “Sales in the first quarter of 2020 increased 7% compared to the first quarter of 2019, driven by the acquisition of Big 3 Precision in August 2019. The acquisition was an important step toward the achievement of our long-term vision of building a larger and stronger company with a more significant presence with key customers. Sales growth due to the inclusion of Big 3 Precision was partly offset by a decline in sales across nearly all businesses during the second half of March, which was precipitated by customer shutdowns and temporary closures of four of our facilities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as considerable weakness in mining,” added Mr. Vlak.\n\n\n“Despite ongoing uncertainty across our end markets and the macro-environment, we believe that our businesses are well positioned and will prove to be resilient once economic activity rebounds” said Mr. Vlak. As of April 29, all but two production facilities are operating and, at this time, the majority of our customers are expected to re-open as soon as May 4. Our backlog remained robust at the end of the first quarter. We are confident that the numerous actions that we have taken to control expenses position our businesses to withstand a significant and potentially more prolonged economic downturn. Actions that we have taken to date include the suspension of all hiring of salaried positions, cessation of discretionary spending, temporary reduction in work hours, initiation of furloughs, cancellation of certain merit-based salary increases, and a limitation on capital spending to only critical maintenance, safety, and regulatory projects,” remarked Mr. Vlak.\n\n\nMr. Vlak continued, “Our balance sheet remains strong. As of March 28, 2020, we have cash and cash equivalents of $16.5 million and an untapped $20 million revolver. Our net leverage ratio is 2.58x, and our fixed charge coverage ratio is 2.58x, both of which comply with our bank covenants of 4.25x and 1.25x, respectively. We believe that our ...