L.B. Foster Publishes Inaugural Sustainability Report
L.B. Foster (NASDAQ: FSTR), a global provider of technology solutions for rail and infrastructure markets, announced the release of its first Sustainability Report on June 26, 2024. The report underscores the company's dedication to sustainable practices and value creation in manufacturing, natural resources, human capital, intellectual property, and social relationships.
President & CEO John Kasel highlighted the company's alignment with stakeholder sustainability needs and its commitment to transparent reporting. External consultants conducted a materiality assessment, identifying key sustainability topics relevant to investors, customers, employees, and industry peers. The Report adheres to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB) guidelines, and emphasizes a long-term vision of integrated reporting.
Janet Lee, Director and Corporate Responsibility Committee Chair, stated that the report reflects the company's accountability and structured approach to sustainability, focusing on employee practices, environmental footprint, and customer benefits.
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PITTSBURGH, June 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- L.B. Foster Company (NASDAQ: FSTR), a global technology solutions provider of products and services for the rail and infrastructure markets (the “Company”), announced today the publication of its first Sustainability Report. The Report reinforces the Company’s commitment to sustainable practices with a lens towards creating value across various areas, such as manufacturing, natural, human, intellectual and social & relationship.
President & CEO John Kasel commented, “In 2023, we took a step forward to align with stakeholder sustainability needs and position the Company as an invaluable supplier, employer, community member, and investee. Our efforts were taken with the goals of communicating our current state of sustainability to our stakeholders and the global community and establishing a reporting mechanism reflecting our approach to sustainability in our industry. The result is our Sustainability Report.”
To build the Report, the Company utilized external consulting to conduct a materiality assessment which compiled a list of sustainability topics applicable to a range of key stakeholders including investors, customers, employees, and ESG rating organizations, as well as analyzing industry peers. The Report was created in reference to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Sustainable of the Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and a long-term vision of integrated reporting. The Report is also intended to help drive our strategy by aligning sustainability with operations.
The Report is a baseline and highlights the Company’s commitment to our SPIRIT culture and values. It addresses our employee practices and environmental footprint and provides insight into the sustainable benefit provided to our customers’ operations.
“Publishing our first Sustainability Report is a testament to our commitment of holding ourselves accountable through transparency,” said Janet Lee, L.B. Foster Director and Corporate Responsibility Committee Chair. “We challenged ourselves and were focused on building a program through structured frameworks, data, and active engagement. We are pleased with the results of our inaugural Report and look forward to future actions as we continue our sustainability journey.”
About L.B. Foster Company
Founded in 1902, L.B. Foster Company is a global technology solutions provider of engineered, manufactured products and services that builds and supports infrastructure. The Company’s innovative engineering and product development solutions address the safety, reliability, and performance needs of its customer's most challenging requirements. The Company maintains locations in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, please visit www.lbfoster.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Forward-looking statements provide management's current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Sentences containing words such as “believe,” “intend,” “plan,” “may,” “expect,” “should,” “could,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” or their negatives, or other similar expressions of a future or forward-looking nature generally should be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this earnings release are based on management's current expectations and assumptions about future events that involve inherent risks and uncertainties and may concern, among other things, the Company’s expectations relating to our strategy, goals, projections, and plans regarding our financial position, liquidity, capital resources, and results of operations and decisions regarding our strategic growth initiatives, market position, and product development. While the Company considers these expectations and assumptions to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, regulatory, and other risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company’s control. The Company cautions readers that various factors could cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those indicated by forward-looking statements. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Among the factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements are risks and uncertainties related to: any future global health crises, and the related social, regulatory, and economic impacts and the response thereto by the Company, our employees, our customers, and national, state, or local governments; a continuation or worsening of the adverse economic conditions in the markets we serve, including recession, the continued volatility in the prices for oil and gas, governmental travel restrictions, project delays, and budget shortfalls, or otherwise; volatility in the global capital markets, including interest rate fluctuations, which could adversely affect our ability to access the capital markets on terms that are favorable to us; restrictions on our ability to draw on our credit agreement, including as a result of any future inability to comply with restrictive covenants contained therein; a decrease in freight or transit rail traffic; environmental matters, including any costs associated with any remediation and monitoring of such matters; the risk of doing business in international markets, including compliance with anti-corruption and bribery laws, foreign currency fluctuations and inflation, global shipping disruptions, and trade restrictions or embargoes; our ability to effectuate our strategy, including cost reduction initiatives, and our ability to effectively integrate acquired businesses or to divest businesses, such as the recent dispositions of the Track Components, Chemtec, and Ties businesses, and acquisitions of the Skratch Enterprises Ltd., Intelligent Video Ltd., VanHooseCo Precast LLC, and Cougar Mountain Precast, LLC businesses and to realize anticipated benefits; costs of and impacts associated with shareholder activism; the timeliness and availability of materials from our major suppliers, as well as the impact on our access to supplies of customer preferences as to the origin of such supplies, such as customers’ concerns about conflict minerals; labor disputes; cybersecurity risks such as data security breaches, malware, ransomware, “hacking,” and identity theft, which could disrupt our business and may result in misuse or misappropriation of confidential or proprietary information, and could result in the disruption or damage to our systems, increased costs and losses, or an adverse effect to our reputation, business or financial condition; the continuing effectiveness of our ongoing implementation of an enterprise resource planning system; changes in current accounting estimates and their ultimate outcomes; the adequacy of internal and external sources of funds to meet financing needs, including our ability to negotiate any additional necessary amendments to our credit agreement or the terms of any new credit agreement, and reforms regarding the use of SOFR as a benchmark for establishing applicable interest rates; the Company’s ability to manage its working capital requirements and indebtedness; domestic and international taxes, including estimates that may impact taxes; domestic and foreign government regulations, including tariffs; economic conditions and regulatory changes caused by the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union; geopolitical conditions, including the ongoing conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Hamas; a lack of state or federal funding for new infrastructure projects; an increase in manufacturing or material costs; the loss of future revenues from current customers; and risks inherent in litigation and the outcome of litigation and product warranty claims. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual outcomes could vary materially from those indicated. Significant risks and uncertainties that may affect the operations, performance, and results of the Company’s business and forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those set forth under Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” and elsewhere in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, or as updated and/or amended by our other current or periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date of this release and we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise, except as required by the federal securities laws.
Marketing & Communications:
Caroline Toplak
(412) 928-3540
ctoplak@lbfoster.com
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