Manufacturer Aims to Cut Costs
By Alejandro Lazo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Williams Industries, a Manassas construction firm and steel girder manufacturer, plans to move a major manufacturing plant from Prince William County to Richmond as it seeks to cut costs in the face of rising steel prices and slowing demand.
The company hopes to relocate the production operations of its subsidiary Williams Bridge Co. by summer's end, said Marianne V. Pastor, a company vice president.
The Manassas plant fabricated the steel girders that hold up the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and major interchanges near Springfield, but higher steel prices, delayed contracts and low margins on projects have hurt the company in recent years.
For the latest quarter, ended April 30, the company's loss narrowed to $465,000, compared with a loss of $660,000 in the corresponding period a year earlier.
Williams plans to store some completed orders of steel girders at the Prince William site, where it will also maintain administrative offices and base a paint crew, Pastor said. Seventy jobs are located at the plant. The company has not decided how many employees will be retained or how many will move to Richmond, she added.
Ultimately, the company hopes to develop or sell the Prince William property. The site is on the corner of Wellington and Bethlehem roads, near the Innovation at Prince William business park, where the county is trying to lure biotech companies.
"This property currently is not being put to the highest and best use in the long-term for its location," Pastor said. "What we are doing is positioning ourselves for alternate uses of this property in the future."
Williams Industries has been re-evaluating its business plan in recent years. The company delisted itself from the Nasdaq Stock Market in May 2007, and the stock is now traded only over the counter by brokers.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in May, the company sought permission to launch a stock buyback program in an effort to take the company "dark," a situation where it would no longer have to file quarterly and yearly reports.
To do this, Williams would have to reduce its number of registered shareholders to below 300. The company is offering $2.75 per share. The offer is being made to all shareholders who held 100 or fewer shares as of May 7. The stock last traded at $1.40 in early June.
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