GREENVILLE, PA. Werner reports lawsuit settlement

Home Depot stopped buying Werner stepladders.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
GREENVILLE, Pa. -- The Werner family, which built the largest ladder-making company in the country, has settled a lawsuit that pitted family members against one another.
The Greenville-based Werner Holding Co. said a group of family members led by Elizabeth Werner of Colorado will receive 200 shares of the company's Class B common stock. Half of the stock will be issued by the company and half will be given by family members in management.
The two sides settled the case Nov. 10, Werner said in documents filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. It did not place a value on the shares.
Daughter of founder
Elizabeth Werner is the daughter of Leo Werner, one of three brothers who founded the company. Her lawsuit, filed in 1998, said her father was tricked into signing over his stock in 1992 to other relatives, management was overcompensated in a 1992 stock award and she was not told about a possible stock sale when she redeemed stock in 1996.
Family members sold more than 80 percent of the company's stock in 1997 to Investcorp, an international investment company, for $123 million.
In other matters, Werner said Home Depot has stopped buying aluminum and fiberglass stepladders from the company and will instead buy them from a Chinese supplier. These ladders accounted for 12 percent of Werner's total sales in the first nine months of this year.
Home Depot also is reviewing its extension ladder business with Werner. The ladder company said it is looking at ways to increase sales or restructure operations because of the loss of Home Depot sales.
The company also said it expects to increase its manufacturing operations in Mexico. It recently moved part of its manufacturing operations to Mexico, which resulted in the loss of 500 jobs in Greenville. About the same number of jobs remain.
In the third quarter, Werner reported earnings of $7.8 million on sales of $136.8 million, compared with earnings of $8.8 million on sales of $134.6 million in the same quarter last year.