NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Donna M. D'Amico
48 South Service Road
Melville, NY 11747
(631) 465-3600
Melville, New York, September 15, 2008…..Park Electrochemical Corp.
(NYSE-PKE) announced that its Neltec Europe SAS and Neltec SA business
units are proposing to restructure their operations and that, as a major
component of such restructuring, Neltec Europe SAS, Park’s digital
electronic materials business unit located in Mirebeau, France, is
proposing to close completely its operations and has commenced an
information and consultation process with its employees regarding the
proposed closure in accordance with French law. Although Park intends to
continue fully the operations of its Neltec SA RF/microwave electronic
materials business unit located in Lannemezan, France, the proposed
European restructuring does include a reorganization of certain of the
activities of Neltec SA. Neltec Europe SAS is proposing to close fully
its operations in response to the very serious erosion of the markets
for digital electronic materials in Europe and the migration of such
markets to Asia. The market for such products in Europe has eroded to
the point where Park believes is not possible for the Neltec Europe SAS
business to be viable.
If the closure of the Neltec Europe SAS operations is implemented as
proposed, Park would plan to supply and fully support all existing
customers of Neltec Europe SAS from Park’s electronic materials
operations located in the United States. The proposed reorganization of
certain of the activities of Neltec SA is not expected to affect Neltec
SA’s service or ability to support its customers around the world. At
this time, the proposed restructuring plans do not contemplate the loss
of material amounts of business by Park.
In light of the proposed closure of the operations of Neltec Europe SAS,
Ronald Brett has resumed his role as President of Neltec Europe SAS and
Manuel Gonzalez has resumed his role as Manufacturing Director of Neltec
Europe SAS.
If the proposed restructuring is implemented, Park would expect to
record a one-time pre-tax charge of approximately $5 million to $6
million in the third or fourth quarter of Park’s current fiscal year
ending March 1, 2009 in connection with this matter, which charge would
be comprised of the write-off of assets and the recognition of certain
expenses. If the proposed closure of Neltec Europe SAS is implemented,
the Neltec Europe SAS business would have no further impact on the
consolidated financial condition or results of operations of Park and
would be treated as a discontinued operation.
Certain portions of this press release may be deemed to constitute
forward looking statements that are subject to various factors which
could cause actual results to differ materially from Park’s expectation.
Such factors include, but are not limited to, general conditions in the
electronics and aerospace industries, Park’s competitive position, the
status of Park’s relationships with its customers, economic conditions
in international markets, the cost and availability of raw materials,
transportation and utilities, and the various other factors set forth in
Item 1A “Risk Factors” and under the caption “Factors That May Affect
Future Results” after Item 7 of Park’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the fiscal year ended March 2, 2008.
Park Electrochemical Corp. is a global advanced materials company which
develops and manufactures high-technology digital and RF/microwave
printed circuit materials principally for the telecommunications and
internet infrastructure and high-end computing markets and advanced
composite materials, structures and components principally for the
aerospace markets. Park’s core capabilities are in the areas of polymer
chemistry formulation, coating technology and advanced composite
structures and component design and fabrication. The Company’s
manufacturing facilities are located in Singapore, China, France,
Connecticut, New York, Kansas (under construction), Arizona, California
and Washington.
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