AGR Reports
breaking news

COMPANY NEWS
Mygrant Purchases Auto Replacement Glass Assets of W.A. Wilson
Mygrant Glass Co. has purchased the auto replacement glass assets of W.A. Wilson Glass Plus. Bob Hartong, president of W.A. Wilson, advised AGRR™ magazine that the decision to sell came as a result of the current marketplace.

“The main reason is, as a small independent like W.A. Wilson, it just was getting harder and harder to compete and be profitable in the marketplace, so I felt the right move was to exit that business and focus on our insulated and tempered [products] and architectural aluminum and the value-added side of our business,” says Hartong.

Though the terms of the deal have not been disclosed, Hartong says no facilities were included in the sale.

“It was all just our auto glass assets and really the biggest thing was our customer list,” he says.
Hartong says he detected a downturn for the automotive business several years ago, but has seen a recent acceleration in the last two to three years.

“Really, we’re such a small regional independent, that trying to compete with the PGWs, the Pilkingtons and some of the larger players, we just didn’t have the buying power that they did, so it just made it very difficult,” he says.

Hartong says the decision to sell was both a difficult and simple one. “From a numbers standpoint, it was actually a pretty clear-cut decision of what we needed to do, but from an emotional standpoint—auto glass was such a big part of our business for so many years—it was tough,” he says. “But when you’re talking about such first-class people like the Mygrants, a family business that kind of has the same core values as we do as a family business, I felt good about that, so it did make it a lot easier.”

W.A. Wilson has locations in Wheeling and Charleston, W.Va., and Canton and Columbus, Ohio. It previously also had a retail auto glass arm, but sold that in 2004.


FINANCIAL NEWS
NSG Reports Positive Fiscal Third Quarter for Pilkington Automotive
Pilkington parent company NSG Group has released its fiscal third-quarter results, and company officials say cumulative revenues and profits “were significantly ahead of the previous year” for the automotive business.

The automotive business recorded sales of $2.4 billion and an operating profit of $175 million.

North America represented 21 percent of NSG’s automotive sales. OE revenues were significantly above the previous year, again due to increased volumes, according to NSG.

“Profits also benefited from the continued realization of additional cost savings,” said the company statement. The North American auto glass replacement business also was up slightly from the previous year, though specific numbers were not provided.

In the European original-equipment (OE) sector, which comprises 46 percent of the company’s automotive sales, “local currency revenues increased strongly from last year’s levels, due to robust volumes, with a consequent improvement in profits,” according to a company statement. NSG officials say in Europe, its third-quarter automotive replacement results were similar to 2009.

In Japan, representing 18 percent of the company’s automotive sales, revenues were ahead of last year, “due to improved levels of demand, despite the reduced demand in the third quarter,” writes NSG.


Boyd Group Reports Record Third Quarter, 32.1 Percent Sales Increase Over 2009

Boyd's Third-Quarter Results

The Boyd Group, which owns Boyd Autobody and Glass and Gerber Collision and Glass, achieved a record third quarter for 2010—with sales up 32.1 percent from the third-quarter 2009. According to the report, the company achieved sales of $69.0 million for the third quarter of 2010, compared with $52.2 million for the third quarter of 2009. The company attributes the increase to its acquisition of True2Form Collision Repair Centers in July 2010.

The company’s same-store sales increased 4.9 percent, excluding the impact of foreign exchange translation, according to the report, and its gross margin was 45.7 percent (compared with 44.9 percent in 2009).

Boyd’s EBITDA totaled $5.0 million compared with adjusted EBITDA of $3.8 million in the third quarter of 2009—a difference of 24 percent. The company’s net earnings for the quarter were $3.2 million, or 4.6 percent of sales, compared with $2.2 million, or 4.3 percent of sales, in the third quarter of 2009.


OPENINGS
Sika Opens New Warehousing Operations in Marion, Ohio
Sika Corp. has announced the opening of a new 200,000-square-foot warehousing facility at its Marion, Ohio, location.
Company officials say the new facility will offer a consolidated shipping point and expedited material flow for its multiple business units.

“The Marion warehouse operation serves as one of several centralized distribution centers for nine business units within Sika Corporation,” says senior marketing coordinator Michelle Wojnicki. “This includes automotive and aftermarket (AGR and flat glass) products.”

The transition to the new facility should be concluded by end of April 2011, according to the company. The former warehousing space occupied in the plant will be converted to additional manufacturing capacity.

ABRA Opens Five Repair Centers in Three States
ABRA Auto Body and Glass has opened five new repair centers. Three of the centers are corporate-owned, and two are franchises.

The corporate centers were opened in Tucker, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta; and Glendale, Wis., and Waukesha, Wis., both of which are Milwaukee suburbs.

The new franchise centers are located in Clinton, Iowa, and Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. The Clinton franchise agreement was awarded to John McEleney, who has been operating under the name of McEleney Collision. McEleney also owns Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, and Toyota franchises in Clinton, according to a statement from ABRA.

Allen Taylor has opened the repair center located in Wisconsin Rapids. Taylor previously operated under the name of Rapids Ford Body Shop. He also is the owner of Rapids Ford-Lincoln-Mercury.

AGRR
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