Quanex Corp., Houston, has announced that it has completed a strategic review of its Piper Impact division located in New Albany, MS, and has decided to put the division on the market. Following the strategic review, Piper will concentrate on promising, high-growth market opportunities, but its market focus will no longer align with Quanex's strategic direction of serving the vehicular products and building products markets, hence the decision to sell the division.
Piper Impact continues to generate positive cash flow, but is experiencing a decline in business with its major automotive and ordnance customers. As a result, Quanex has decided to consolidate production into one of Piper’s two facilities.
The expected sale of the division could produce an after-tax book write-off of approximately $5 million to $10 million and positive cash flow of approximately $20 million to $25 million, resulting primarily from the accelerated write-off of Piper's tax goodwill. Quanex anticipates that the sale will be completed within one year.