Core Molding Technologies Inc. is closing a composites plant in Batavia, Ohio, in a move that will eliminate 99 jobs.
Officials with Core in Columbus, Ohio, said in a Nov. 19 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act filing with the state that the plant is being closed because of changes in the business resulting from a customer's relocation of production away from Ohio.
They added that the site's 99 employees will be laid off in phases, starting in March and ending in December 2021. The site had operated as Core Composites Cincinnati. Officials added that employees will be offered other positions with Core in the U.S.
Core's other U.S. sites are in Columbus; Winona, Minn.; and Gaffney, S.C. Employees were told of the closing on Nov. 4.
In a Nov. 5 financial release, Core officials said that "as the company continues to strengthen its resources in technology and innovation, it also must make sure that it optimizes current resources. This has led … to the decision to close our Cincinnati facility … and work with our customers to relocate the business into other Core locations or to third parties."
Officials added that "the team in Cincinnati has made tremendous improvements in the operations over the past 18 months. However, the operations still do not, and will not in the future, provide the required returns to support ongoing investment in the location."
Sales from the Batavia plant account for less than 5 percent of Core's total. Officials said that the firm expects half of that amount to transition to other Core locations. They added that Core expects shutdown costs and any asset impairment charges from the closing "to be immaterial."
Core's main businesses are thermoset sheet molding compounds and fiberglass-reinforced plastics molding. In the first nine months of 2020, the publicly held firm posted sales of $161.7 million, down almost 30 percent vs. the same period in 2019.
Officials added in the Nov. 5 release that for full-year 2020, Core expects sales to be lower than 2019, primarily because of the effects of a cyclical downturn in the North American heavy-duty truck market and of COVID-19.
In spite of the nine-month sales drop, Core showed a profit of a little more than $9 million for that period after losing almost $10 million in the same period in 2019. The firm posted full-year sales of $284.3 million in 2019, up 5.5 percent vs. 2018.
On Wall Street, Core's per-share price has taken a wild ride in 2020. The price began the year around $3.50 and fell close to $1 in early April before beginning a strong recovery. It was trading at a little more than $11 in early trading Nov. 24.