Sheet producer and compounder Spartech Corp. plans a public offering of 8.25 million shares.
The Clayton-based firm said it expects to complete the public offering in April and will use the proceeds to pay debt and for general purposes. Spartech's share price fell 14 cents to $21.75 shortly after the firm announced the offering on the morning of Feb. 28.
British Vita plc plans to sell 6 million shares, and Ralph Andy, former owner of Spartech Polycom, plans to sell 135,000 shares. Spartech's treasury will issue an additional 2.1 million shares.
Separately, Spartech reported disappointing first-quarter results but said sales began to improve in January. Profit fell 43 percent to $6.9 million in the quarter ended Feb. 2. Sales slipped 11 percent to $190.7 million after adjusting for the divestiture last July of its custom molded products business.
Sales of custom sheet and roll stock dropped 18 percent to $128.1 million because of low demand in aerospace, mass-transit and transportation markets. Compounds sales fell 16 percent to $48.9 million in the quarter.
