Horizon Global has revised its business outlook and updated its action plan, including actions to improve performance in its Americas and Europe-Africa segments.
“I have spent the past month evaluating our global operations and meeting with the management teams of each business segment,” said Carl Bizon, interim president and CEO of Horizon Global. “My initial evaluation of our global operations highlighted a number of near-term operational issues that must be addressed promptly. … We have identified additional initiatives, primarily in Europe-Africa, to expand the Action Plan and ensure that the company is moving in a positive direction. A good deal of my leadership experience includes fixing operational issues within companies, and I am pleased to report that the issues I see today at Horizon Global are operational in nature, not structural.
“Additionally,” Bizon continued, “we recently announced the termination of the Brink Group acquisition. While the company firmly believed in the rationale underlying the acquisition, terminating the agreement is currently in the best interests of the company and allows complete management focus on our existing business. Absolute attention to our operations, core brands, customers and distribution channels is necessary at this time.”
Distribution challenges in the Americas business drove lower-than-expected second quarter 2018 results, Horizon Global stated. Improvements in its Kansas City distribution center is gaining momentum late in second quarter.
“Although we are making solid progress against our Action Plan initiatives in the Americas related to restructuring and consolidating the organization, the delayed financial realization of our operational improvements and persistent headwinds in Europe-Africa are expected to result in performance that is below our expectations in the quarter,” said David Rice, CFO of Horizon. “In spite of showing steady improvement through much of the second quarter, our Kansas City distribution center did not begin approaching its daily shipment goals until well into the month of June.”