Volume 35, Number 4, April 2000
FinancialFlash
Guardian Makes Bid for Cameron Ashley
Guardian Industries Corp. Building Materials Group, and its affiliate Builder Marts of America Inc. (BMA), have offered to purchase all outstanding shares of Dallas-based Cameron Ashley Building Products Inc. for $17 per share. Cameron Ashley had previously announced an offer from an investment group for $15.10 per share.
“This acquisition will be an excellent addition to BMA’s position as a leading supplier to the independent dealer market,” said Duane Faulkner, president of Guardian’s Building Materials Group and BMA. “This is part of our long-standing commitment to the building materials industry.”
Following Guardian’s offer to purchase all the outstanding shares of Cameron Ashley Building Products Inc., Standard & Poor’s (S&P) affirmed the outlook for Guardian is stable, leaving the current corporate credit rating at A+/A-1.
According to S&P, Guardian should have sufficient cash flow to enable the company to reduce debt resulting from the possible Cameron Ashley transaction.
stock watch
It was a month marked by decreases for publicly-traded glass companies or companies that own glass concerns. For the period between February 4 and March 3, 12 companies posted decreases. Dupont reported the biggest downturn (14 percent), followed by Vitro (10 percent). On the up side, the Dwyer Group was the big winner with a 34 percent increase, followed by Compudyne (19 percent).
| Company Name |
Monthly Range
(March 3 - March 31) |
52-Wk Range | P/E Ratio |
| Apogee (APOG) | 4 1/2 - 33 1/32 | 3.87-14.31 | 5.4 |
| Alcoa (AA) owns Alumax & Kawneer |
67 15/16 - 70 1/4 | 35.93 - 87.25 | 24.9 |
| Asahi (ASGLY) | 77.000-77.000 yen | NA | NA |
| Butler Mfg. (BBR) owns Vistawall |
25 3/16 - 24 7/16 | 21.00-29.93 | 6.7 |
| Compudyne (CDCY) owns Norment |
91/2-10 | 6.00-12.75 | 21.7 |
| Donnelly (DON) | 12 11/16 - 11 13/16 | 11.75-17.50 | 4.1 |
| Dow Chemical (DOW) | 109 3/4 - 114 | 90.06-141.50 | 19.2 |
| Dupont (DD) | 670 1/4 - 521 5/1 | 45.06-75.18 | 7.6 |
| Dwyer Group (DWYR) owns the Glass Doctor |
3 11/16 - 2 7/8 | 1.68-4.25 | 13.1 |
| Flour City Int’l (FCIN) | 4 1/8 - 3 5/8 | 1.31-6.00 | NE |
| Lilly Industries (LI) | 12 3/8 - 12 3/8 | 10.87-19.75 | 8.9 |
| Monsanto (MTC) | 36 15/16 - 51 1/2 | 32.75-51.50 | 56.6 |
| Pilkington plc (PILK) | 79.75-76.00 pounds | NA | NA |
| PPG (PPG) | 49 1/16 - 52 5/16 | 44.37-70.75 | 16.2 |
| Solutia (SOI) | 13 5/8 - 13 3/8 | 11.25-26.31 | 7.4 |
| ThermoView Ind. (THV) | 3 1/4 - 3 1/2 | 2.00-7.12 | NE |
| Vitro (VTO) owns VVP America |
41/8-43/4 | 3.62-7.50 | NE |
NA = Not Applicable; NE = Negative Earnings
USG
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