Wabash Opens New Diversified Products Reporting Segment

March 6, 2012
Wabash National Corporation (NYSE: WNC) has established a new financial reporting segment, Diversified Products, which comprises Wabash Composites (formerly DuraPlate Products Group), Wabash Energy and Environmental Solutions (formerly Allied Products Group) and Wabash Wood Products

Wabash National Corporation (NYSE: WNC) has established a new financial reporting segment, Diversified Products, which comprises Wabash Composites (formerly DuraPlate Products Group), Wabash Energy and Environmental Solutions (formerly Allied Products Group) and Wabash Wood Products.

This new reporting structure better aligns the company’s external reporting with how the business is being managed internally. In addition, the greater visibility into the company’s Diversified Products segment highlights an area that the company views as an important potential source of growth and profitability and underscores Wabash National’s ongoing commitment to diversify its product offerings and revenues.

Starting with the 2011 Form 10-K and going forward, Wabash National will report its underlying earnings primarily on the following segments: Commercial Trailer Products, Diversified Products and Retail.

Dick Giromini, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We have made great strides in our ongoing efforts in transforming Wabash National into a diversified industrial manufacturer to reduce cyclicality, improve profitability and drive higher growth. Since our transformation began in 2008, the company has realized significant growth in revenue and profitability from our diversification efforts. Our success has been driven by our ability to extend our industry leading technology, leverage our core manufacturing expertise and develop products that complement the transportation equipment we offer.

“Given the progress of these efforts and the opportunities we look to capture going forward, we felt it was appropriate to enhance our reporting structure. This new segmentation provides investors with improved visibility into our company while better aligning our external reporting with how we are managing the business. We believe this also highlights our leading capabilities in composite technology and the compelling opportunities we see in further penetrating the energy and environmental space.”

The Diversified Products segment focuses on expanding the company’s customer base, diversifying its product offerings and revenues and extending market leadership by leveraging intellectual technology, including its market-leading DuraPlate panel technology. The DuraPlate composite panel technology contains unique properties of strength and durability that can be utilized in numerous applications beyond truck trailers such as portable storage containers and the AeroSkirt, an aerodynamic solution for over-the-road trailers.

In addition, the company continues to find other opportunities to organically enhance its business model by leveraging its core competencies in manufacturing into new applications and end markets. In 2011, the company signed an exclusive agreement to manufacture frac tanks, which are mobile water storage containers used in the energy industry to facilitate the extraction of oil and gas from underground wells. Through the Diversified Products segment, the company can offer a wide array of products and customer-specific solutions that it believes provide a foundation for achieving further product, customer and revenue diversification.

Related content: