L.B. Foster Divests Piling Products Division

L.B. Foster Company on Sept. 24 completed the sale of its steel Piling Products division to J.D. Fields & Company, Inc. for approximately $24 million in total proceeds., and is retaining all pre-closing receivables and liabilities associated with the line of business.

J.D. Fields, established in 1985 and based in Houston, Tex., is a supplier of steel pipe and pilings products.

The asset sale includes all L.B. Foster-held inventory associated with Piling Products, as well as the related fixed assets, including its Petersburg, Va., facility. The division produced revenues of approximately $43 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, and $59 million for the twelve months ended Dec. 31, 2020.

L.B. Foster President and CEO John Kasel said the Piling Products division’s business model “was working-capital-intensive and presented constraints on our ability to increase profit margins.” Divestiture will enable the company to allocate capital to businesses “with better growth and profitability outlooks. We are confident that we can redeploy this capital in a way that will achieve better returns and further strengthen businesses in our portfolio that have more robust growth opportunities.”

“We have begun narrowing our investment focus in the more profitable areas of Rail Technologies and Precast Concrete Products,” Kasel said. “There is substantial opportunity in these markets to build on the capabilities we have and drive greater scale. As transportation systems evolve and infrastructure demands increase to meet the needs for environmentally-sustainable solutions, these business areas are expected to benefit the most and will receive incremental capital to fuel enterprise growth.”

L.B. Foster will be holding an investor webcast covering the transaction on Oct. 4, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, in which management will provide an overview of the transaction and will be available for questions. Those wishing to participate via telephone may dial in at (833) 614-1392 (U.S. and Canada) or (914) 987-7113 (International). Those wishing to participate via webcast should access the call through L.B. Foster’s Investor Relations page of the company’s website. A presentation will be available on the company’s website under the Investor Relations page on Oct. 4, 2021 immediately before the webcast begins.

A presentation replay will be available through October 11, 2021. To access the replay, dial (855) 859-2056 (U.S. & Canada) or (404) 537-3406 (International) and provide the access code: 9778265. The conference call replay will also be available via webcast through L.B. Foster’s Investor Relations page of the company’s website.