Exide Technologies Defers Start-Up of North American Industrial Plant
Exide Technologies Defers Start-Up of North American Industrial Plant
PRINCETON, N.J., July 6 Exide Technologies today announced plans to defer the start of full production at its Maple, Ontario, manufacturing facility from October 2001 to the first quarter of 2002. The Maple facility is being converted from automotive battery production to an industrial facility to manufacture ABSOLYTE(R) and Champion(R) sealed-technology industrial batteries. "The slowdown in the telecommunications sector has resulted in reduced short-term growth projections for the network-power market and demand for the ABSOLYTE(R) product. In order to maximize the utilization of our existing production facilities, we have opted to defer the start of full production at the Maple facility," said Craig H. Muhlhauser, President and Chief Operating Officer of Exide Technologies. "The demand for Champion(R) Motive Power products continues to exceed expectations, and we are increasing production of this premium product in our Kankakee, Illinois, plant." ABSOLYTE(R), the leading brand of sealed technology industrial batteries in the world, is recognized globally as the premium technology solution for the network power market. ABSOLYTE(R) is the first choice for back-up solutions in today's wired and wireless voice, data, and multimedia networks. The Champion(R) Brand sealed industrial battery is the flagship motive- power product for GNB Industrial Power and is the fastest growing brand in the motive-power market. Note: Exide Technologies is the global leader in providing electrical energy storage solutions. The company has operations in 89 countries, serving the industrial and transportation markets. Industrial applications include network-power batteries for telecommunications systems, fuel-cell load leveling, electric utilities, railroads, photovoltaic (solar-power related) and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) markets; and motive-power batteries for a broad range of equipment uses, including lift trucks, mining vehicles and commercial vehicles. Transportation uses include automotive, heavy-duty truck, agricultural, marine and other batteries, as well as new technologies being developed for hybrid vehicles and new 42-volt automotive applications. The company supplies both aftermarket and original-equipment transportation customers. Further information about Exide Technologies, its financial results and other information can be found at http://www.exide.com . Media contact: Tim Yost, 734-827-3282; tyost@exideworld.com Investor contact: Thomas J. Smith, 609-919-4946; tsmith@exideworld.com Champion(R) is a registered trademark of Federal Mogul Corporation. Certain statements in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements as defined by the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. As such, they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results of the company to be materially different from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These are enumerated in further detail in the company's Form 10-K.