Featherlite Steps Up To Heavyweight Division
4 June 1999
Featherlite, Inc. forms Luxury Coach Division Featherlite Vantare(TM) and Featherlite Vogue(R) Motorcoach Divisions
Combined; Norm Allen Named Executive VP and COO of New Operating Division
CRESCO, Iowa, June 4 -- Featherlite, Inc. (Nasdaq:FTHR), a
leading manufacturer and marketer of specialty aluminum trailers and luxury
motorcoaches, announced today that it has combined the company's two luxury
motorcoach divisions to form the Featherlite Luxury Coach Division, a new
operating unit of Featherlite. Featherlite said the new division, with
headquarters in Sanford, Fla., will be headed by Norm Allen, previously Chief
Operating Officer of Featherlite's Vantare Division. Michael J. Krahl, who
has served as Director of Operations for Vantare, was named Vice President of
Sales and Marketing for the Featherlite Luxury Coach Division. Brendan
Delehanty, who formerly headed the company's Vogue Division, was named Vice
President and General Manager of the new division's manufacturing and sales
facility in Pryor, Okla.
"We are very excited to announce this important change in our organization
which we expect will provide a number of significant benefits to Featherlite,
both now and in the future," said Conrad Clement, Featherlite's chairman and
chief executive officer. "First and most important, the formation of the
Featherlite Luxury Coach Division will streamline and fully integrate all
sales and marketing activities for our luxury motorcoaches which now
constitute 40 percent of Featherlite's total sales. We expect the combination
to result in meaningful cost savings and improved customer service, and to
improve communications, coordination and supervision in this critically
important division of Featherlite.
"We are indeed fortunate to have experienced management in place to lead
this new division. With Norm Allen as Executive Vice President and Chief
Operating Officer of the Featherlite Luxury Coach Division, we look forward to
realizing the operational synergies that we know exist in combining these
divisions. Norm has shown his exceptional operational management skills in
more than doubling the production output of the Vantare Division and
significantly improving its overall profitability since it was acquired in
1996. Mike Krahl has demonstrated to us, in a short period of time, his
leadership and management ability as Vantare's Director of Operations and is
very deserving of these new responsibilities which will provide us a unified
sales and marketing effort for the Featherlite Vantare and Featherlite Vogue
coaches. Brendan Delehanty brings to this new position his significant
management experience in trailer manufacturing and marketing which will fit
well in managing the Vogue operations," Clement said.
Norm Allen has been Chief Operating Officer of Featherlite's Vantare
Division since October 1997, and has been a key member of its senior
management team since Vantare's acquisition by Featherlite in July 1996.
Before transferring to the Vantare Division, Allen held executive
responsibilities at Featherlite's headquarters in Iowa.
Mike Krahl joined Featherlite as Director of Operations for Vantare in
January 1998. Prior to joining Featherlite, Krahl served in increasingly
responsible general management positions for multi-plant and multi-product
business units of ESCO Electronics and Emerson Electric Company. Brendan
Delehanty has been Vice President of Featherlite's Shenandoah operations since
it was acquired in 1995 and transferred to the Vogue Division as its President
in January 1999.
"The creation of this new consolidated business unit, and the key
management appointments we are announcing, is consistent with our aggressive
plans for the further development of this important business segment for
Featherlite," Clement said. "This summer we will open our new Featherlite
Luxury Coach Division Sales and Service Center in Sanford, Fla., supporting
both the Featherlite Vantare and Featherlite Vogue lines, which will remain
flagship brand names for the new division. The high-visibility and
high-traffic location that the new facility has on Interstate-4 will provide
excellent brand visibility and customer convenience.
"We are very pleased with all that has been accomplished over the past
year in integrating the Vogue line with the balance of our operations. We
expect our rapidly expanding luxury coach business to be approximately
$120 million in sales in 1999 and foresee a 25- to 30-percent annual growth
rate in sales after that. We are also moving forward with our plans for the
production and marketing of luxury business and executive coaches -- a growing
additional niche that we have both the experience and production capacity to
serve.
"Now, with the new organization, new management appointments, new products
in the design pipeline, and a new sales and service facility, we are ready for
even more growth and greater profitability for the Featherlite Luxury Coach
Division in the months and years ahead," Clement said.
Featherlite, Inc., with sales of $191 million in its fiscal year ended
Dec. 31, 1998, is an innovative leader in designing, manufacturing and
marketing high quality aluminum specialty trailers, transporters and luxury
motorcoaches. With 80 percent of its business in the leisure, recreation and
entertainment categories, Featherlite has highly diversified product lines
offering 400 standard model and custom-designed aluminum specialty trailers,
specialized transporters and luxury motorcoaches. Featherlite is the
"Official Trailer" of NASCAR, Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), Indy Race
League (IRL), SPORTSCAR, Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), American
Speed Association (ASA), World of Outlaws (W.O.O.) and the National Hot Rod
Association (NHRA). Through its Featherlite Vantare and Featherlite Vogue
product lines, Featherlite is the "Official Luxury Motorcoach" of NASCAR, IRL,
SPORTSCAR, CART and NHRA.
