VITEX EXPANDS ALUMINUM EXTRUSION CAPACITY

Franklin-based Vitex Extrusion, an aluminum extrusion manufacturer, has announced it will expand its aluminum extrusion manufacturing business with the long-term lease of a 50,000-squarefoot facility.

The building, located at 109 Industrial Park Drive in Franklin, is adjacent to Vitex’s existing 115,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and will be dedicated to machining, fabrication and assembly of aluminum extrusions.

“Over the last few years we’ve made a number of strategic investments in new equipment and technologies to meet the downstream manufacturing needs of our customers. As a result, our existing building could no longer accommodate the value-added business growth,” said Andrew Curland, Vitex’s president and CEO.

He said the company was “fortunate this nearby facility became available, allowing us to move our machining and fabrication business into a manufacturing space that will accommodate continued growth.”

The new facility will house more than two dozen of the company’s CNC machines, dedicated work cells and deburring and punch systems. In addition, plans are underway to install roboticbased cellular production units for larger volume OEM production platforms, Curland said.

The company expects to have the new building fully operational this month.

STANDEX SEES EARNINGS TUMBLE IN FISCAL YEAR

Even after cutting its U.S. workforce in half since last year, Standex International Corp.’s profits for the fiscal year fell by 70%.

Much of that was due to the pandemic, which hit the Salem-based conglomerate hardest in the fourth quarter, particularly in April. In that final quarter, ending on June 30, sales fell 17%, to $139 million, resulting in a $1.8 million profit, or 15 cents per share, compared to a $12.4 million profit during the same quarter the previous year, the company reported.

As a result, the company ended up with $604.5 million in sales for the fiscal year, more than a $35 million decline, with a net income of $20.2 million (or $1.64 a share), less than a third of the $67.9 million it made the previous year.

It was what the company expected, given “this very challenging environment,” said David Dunbar, president and CEO. The pandemic’s effect on customers and suppliers, as well as the expenses incurred to continue manufacturing through it, hit every segment of the company.

Standex took a hit on restructuring costs for headcount reductions, facility closures and consolidations, according to its filing. Most of those headcount reductions were in the United States, where the workforce shrank 2,200 employees to 1,100 but hardly affected its 2,700 workers abroad, down only 100 from the previous year.

But things are looking up, said Dunbar. “The trough was April, and the business has been coming back since. May was stronger than April, June was stronger than May, July is stronger, August is stronger, “ he said in a Tuesday earnings call.

CANADIAN FIRM ACQUIRES CONCORD’S RYMES PROPANE

Superior Plus, an energy company in Canada, is acquiring Concord-based Rymes Propane and Oil for $159 million.

The deal is expected to close on Sept. 30.

Superior firm said the acquisition will expand the company’s U.S. propane distribution and bring “highquality, stable cash flow and earnings profile from a business with loyal customers and consistent gross margin profile.”

Rymes, founded in 1969, has 46 locations and, in 2019, served almost 90,000 customers in New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont, reporting about $20 million in revenue last year.

The Rymes acquisition is Superior’s third in 2020 and increases the total value of acquisitions in 2020 to approximately $270 million.