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New Management Team is Focused on Enhancing Shareholder Value
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Kenny Young Appointed Chief Executive Officer
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Lou Salamone Appointed Executive Vice President of Finance
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Henry E. Bartoli Appointed Chief Strategy Officer, Remains a
Director
BARBERTON, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. (“B&W”) (NYSE:BW) announced today
that Kenny Young has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the
Company, effective immediately. Leslie Kass, who has served as Chief
Executive Officer since February 2018, is leaving B&W to pursue other
opportunities. Additionally, B&W announced Lou Salamone has been
appointed to serve as Executive Vice President of Finance and with the
expectation that he will transition to the role of Chief Financial
Officer in the near term. B&W also announced that Henry E. Bartoli will
serve as Chief Strategy Officer and will remain a member of the Board of
Directors as a non-independent director. Robert Caruso will continue to
serve as Chief Implementation Officer.
The executive changes put in place a proven leadership team with a
combination of turnaround expertise and power industry experience and
are intended to unlock value from B&W’s various segments and lead to
increased shareholder returns. The new management team has been granted
equity awards that begin to vest when the price of B&W’s common stock
reaches $2.25 per share.
“We thank Leslie for her efforts in reshaping the Company’s various
segments, accelerating the exit of a difficult European construction
business, and relocating the corporate headquarters. We appreciate her
support during this transition and wish her the best in her new
endeavors,” said Matt Avril, Chairman of the B&W Board of Directors.
“This is the next step in the Board’s efforts to increase equity value
for all of our shareholders. Kenny and Lou led the successful turnaround
at LCC International, a global telecom engineering and infrastructure
services company, and we look forward to their contributions at Babcock
& Wilcox,” added Mr. Avril. “Combined with Henry’s extensive industry
experience, this new leadership team is intended to help the Company
leverage its broad capabilities while driving efforts to achieve
improved financial performance for all of our stakeholders.”
“Babcock & Wilcox, through its employees and subsidiaries, has created
tremendous brand equity and a unique market position. Unlocking our
products and technical expertise, within each of our operational brands
and segments, creates a competitive differentiation. I am excited to
step into the role of Chief Executive Officer,” said Mr. Young. “I look
forward to working closely with our customers and employees in support
of their efforts to drive and enhance product quality, improve our
operational capabilities and create incremental value for our customers
through higher levels of technology and performance. Henry, Lou and I
have a great opportunity to leverage our financial and industry
experience and are motivated to strengthen our business and generate
greater returns for our shareholders.”
In the newly created position of Chief Strategy Officer, Mr. Bartoli
will advise the senior management team and oversee the execution of
market and operational strategies across the Company.
About Kenny Young
Mr. Young has more than 30 years of operational, financial, marketing
and executive leadership experience. He currently serves as President of
B. Riley Financial, Inc. and Chief Executive Officer of B. Riley
Principal Investments, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of B. Riley
Financial. Previously, he served for seven years as President and Chief
Executive Officer of LCC International, Inc. In this role, he led a
turnaround through various cost reductions and market expansions that
yielded significant top and bottom line performance improvements.
About Lou Salamone
Mr. Salamone has more than 25 years of experience as a chief financial
officer of diversified public companies such as Nextel Communications,
Applied Graphics Technologies and LCC International, Inc.; as well as
with private equity-backed companies such as USi, GXS and, most
recently, CityMD. Mr. Salamone was previously a partner at Deloitte &
Touche.
About Henry E. Bartoli
Mr. Bartoli has more than 35 years of experience in all aspects of the
global power industry. Most recently, Mr. Bartoli served as President
and Chief Executive Officer of Hitachi Power Systems America, Ltd.
Previously, Mr. Bartoli held senior executive corporate positions at The
Shaw Group, Foster Wheeler Corp., and Burns and Roe Enterprises, Inc.
Investor Call
The Company expects to host an investor call with the new management
team on November 26, 2018, with call details to be issued later this
week.
About B&W
Headquartered in Barberton, Ohio, Babcock & Wilcox is a global leader in
energy and environmental technologies and services for the power and
industrial markets. Follow us on Twitter @BabcockWilcox and learn more
at www.babcock.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
B&W cautions that this release contains forward-looking statements,
including, without limitation, statements relating to our strategic
objectives; our business execution model; management’s expectations
regarding the industries in which we operate; our guidance and
forecasts; our projected operating margin improvements, savings and
restructuring costs; covenant compliance; and project execution. These
forward-looking statements are based on management’s current
expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including,
among other things, our ability to continue as a going concern; our
ability to obtain and maintain sufficient financing to provide liquidity
to meet our business objectives, surety bonds, letters of credit and
similar financing; our ability to satisfy the liquidity and other
requirements under U.S. revolving credit facility as recently amended,
including our ability to receive concessions from customers on our
Renewable energy loss contracts; the highly competitive nature of our
businesses; general economic and business conditions, including changes
in interest rates and currency exchange rates; general developments in
the industries in which we are involved; cancellations of and
adjustments to backlog and the resulting impact from using backlog as an
indicator of future earnings; our ability to perform contracts on time
and on budget, in accordance with the schedules and terms established by
the applicable contracts with customers; failure by third-party
subcontractors, joint venture partners or suppliers to perform their
obligations on time and as specified; our ability to realize anticipated
savings and operational benefits from our restructuring plans, and other
cost-savings initiatives; our ability to successfully address
productivity and schedule issues in our Renewable segment, including the
ability to complete our Renewable energy projects within the expected
time frame and the estimated costs; our ability to successfully partner
with third parties to win and execute renewable contracts; changes in
our effective tax rate and tax positions; our ability to maintain
operational support for our information systems against service outages
and data corruption, as well as protection against cyber-based network
security breaches and theft of data; our ability to protect our
intellectual property and renew licenses to use intellectual property of
third parties; our use of the percentage-of-completion method of
accounting; our ability to successfully manage research and development
projects and costs, including our efforts to successfully develop and
commercialize new technologies and products; the operating risks
normally incident to our lines of business, including professional
liability, product liability, warranty and other claims against us;
changes in, or our failure or inability to comply with, laws and
government regulations; actual or anticipated changes in governmental
regulation, including trade and tariff policies; difficulties we may
encounter in obtaining regulatory or other necessary permits or
approvals; changes in, and liabilities relating to, existing or future
environmental regulatory matters; changes in actuarial assumptions and
market fluctuations that affect our net pension liabilities and income;
potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; our ability
to successfully compete with current and future competitors; the loss of
key personnel and the continued availability of qualified personnel; our
ability to negotiate and maintain good relationships with labor unions;
changes in pension and medical expenses associated with our retirement
benefit programs; social, political, competitive and economic situations
in foreign countries where we do business or seek new business; the
possibilities of war, other armed conflicts or terrorist attacks; and
the willingness of customers and suppliers to continue to do business
with us on reasonable terms and conditions. If one or more of these
risks or other risks materialize, actual results may vary materially
from those expressed. For a more complete discussion of these and other
risk factors, see B&W’s filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and
subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. B&W cautions not to place
undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as
of the date of this release, and undertakes no obligation to update or
revise any forward-looking statement, except to the extent required by
applicable law.
View source version on businesswire.com:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181119005371/en/
Investors:
Megan Wilson
Vice President, Corporate Development
& Investor Relations
Babcock & Wilcox
704.625.4944 | investors@babcock.com
Media:
Ryan Cornell
Public Relations
Babcock & Wilcox
330.860.1345
| rscornell@babcock.com
Source: Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc.