Forterra Announces Rating Upgrade by Moody’s
Forterra, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRTA) announced that Moody's upgraded Forterra Finance, LLC's Corporate Family Rating from B3 to B1, and senior secured ratings from B3 to B2. The Probability of Default Rating also improved from B3-PD to B1-PD, with Speculative Grade Liquidity Rating raised from SGL-3 to SGL-2. The upgrade reflects Forterra's strong earnings growth and debt reduction efforts. CEO Charlie Brown noted the company aims to further improve margins and reduce debt to achieve a leverage target of 3.0-3.5x shortly.
- Moody's upgraded Corporate Family Rating to B1 from B3.
- Improved Probability of Default Rating to B1-PD from B3-PD.
- Senior secured ratings raised to B2 from B3.
- Speculative Grade Liquidity Rating increased to SGL-2 from SGL-3.
- Demonstrated significant earnings growth and debt reduction.
- None.
IRVING, Texas, Sept. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Forterra, Inc. (“Forterra” or “the Company”) (NASDAQ: FRTA), a leading manufacturer of water and drainage infrastructure pipe and products in the United States and Eastern Canada, today announced that on September 29, 2020, Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) upgraded Forterra Finance, LLC (a subsidiary of Forterra)’s Corporate Family Rating (“CFR”) to B1 from B3, Probability of Default Rating (“PDR”) to B1-PD from B3-PD and senior secured ratings to B2 from B3. Moody’s also upgraded the Speculative Grade Liquidity Rating to SGL-2 from SGL-3. The outlook remains stable.
Forterra’s Executive Vice President and CFO Charlie Brown commented, “We are pleased to see the rating upgrade. We have demonstrated significant momentum over the past several quarters in both earnings’ growth and debt reduction. We will continue to execute on our five improvement pillars to further expand unit margins, decrease working capital investments, and use the increased cash flow to reduce our debt to achieve our leverage target of 3.0-3.5x in the near term.”
About Forterra
Forterra is a leading manufacturer of water and drainage pipe and products in the U.S. and Eastern Canada for a variety of water-related infrastructure applications, including water transmission, distribution, drainage and stormwater systems. Based in Irving, Texas, Forterra’s product breadth and scale help make it a preferred supplier for water-related pipe and products, serving a wide variety of customers, including contractors, distributors and municipalities. For more information on Forterra, visit http://forterrabp.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "estimate", "plan", "outlook", and "project" and other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on historical information available at the time the statements are made and are based on management's reasonable belief or expectations with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control, that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from the belief or expectations expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements.
Some of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties relating to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; the level of construction activity, particularly in the residential construction and non-residential construction markets; government funding of infrastructure and related construction activities; the highly competitive nature of our industry and our ability to effectively compete; the availability and price of the raw materials we use in our business; the ability to implement our growth strategy; our dependence on key customers and the absence of long-term agreements with these customers; the level of construction activity in Texas; energy costs; disruption at one or more of our manufacturing facilities or in our supply chain; construction project delays and our inventory management; our ability to successfully integrate acquisitions; labor disruptions and other union activity; a tightening of mortgage lending or mortgage financing requirements; the possibility that HeidelbergCement will dispute the arbitrator’s recent decision that no earnout payment is owed; compliance with environmental laws and regulations; compliance with health and safety laws and regulations and other laws and regulations to which we and our products are subject to; our dependence on key executives and key management personnel; our ability, or that of the customers with which we work, to retain and attract additional skilled and non-skilled technical or sales personnel; credit and non-payment risks of our customers; warranty and related claims; legal and regulatory claims; the seasonality of our business and its susceptibility to adverse weather; our contract backlog; our ability to maintain sufficient liquidity and ensure adequate financing or guarantees for large projects; delays or outages in our information technology systems and computer networks; security breaches in our information technology systems and other cybersecurity incidents and additional factors discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, for additional information regarding the risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.
Source: Forterra, Inc.
Company Contact Information:
Simon Chen
Vice President, Treasury and Investor Relations
469-299-9113
IR@forterrabp.com
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