American Superconductor Corporation has announced the appointment of John W. Wood Jr. as chairman of the Board, effective August 16. He replaces former chairman and company founder, Gregory J. Yurek, who retired as chief executive officer earlier this year.
Wood, 67, has been an independent director of AMSC since 2006. Prior to joining AMSC’s Board, Wood was chief executive officer of Analogic Corporation, a leading designer and manufacturer of medical imaging and security systems. Before joining Analogic, he held senior executive positions over a 22-year career at Thermo Electron Corporation. Wood is a director for FLIR Systems, Inc. and ESCO Corporation. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Louisiana Tech University and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
As part of his new duties, Wood will become chairman of AMSC’s Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee. His prior role as chairman of the Audit Committee will be assumed by Pamela F. Lenehan, who has been an AMSC director since March 2011. Lenehan has more than 30 years of strategic planning and financial management experience in corporate, investment banking, and public board environments. She is also a director of Monotype Imaging and Spartech Corporation.
American Superconductor Receives NASDAQ Notification Letter
American Superconductor Corporation announced it received a letter from the Listing Qualifications Department of the NASDAQ Stock Market (“NASDAQ”) advising the company that it is not in compliance with NASDAQ Listing Rule
5250(c)(1) due to its inability to file on a timely basis its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2011. This notification was issued in accordance with standard NASDAQ procedures, and in connection with its previous notification dated June 17, 2011 regarding the company’s inability to file on a timely basis its Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal year ended March 31, 2011. NASDAQ’s notification has no immediate effect on the listing of the company’s common stock.
As previously disclosed, additional time is required to complete the preparation and audit of the company’s financial statements, including its restated financial statements for the fiscal quarters ended September 30, 2010 and December 31, 2010. In response to the previous letter received from NASDAQ on June 17, 2011 referenced in the company’s press release dated June 21, 2011, AMSC sent a detailed letter to NASDAQ on August 16, 2011 outlining its plan to regain compliance and requesting an extension of time to file the required periodic reports.
According to its Listing Rules, NASDAQ has the discretion to grant the company an extension of up to 180 calendar days from the due date of the Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, or December 14, 2011.
American Superconductor Announces Workforce Reduction
American Superconductor Corporation announced that it has reduced its global workforce by approximately 30 percent and its annualized expenses by approximately $30 million since March 31, 2011. These reductions were made to better align costs with the company’s revenue expectations, which have been affected by business and contractual issues with AMSC’s largest customer, Sinovel Wind Group Co., Ltd. AMSC expects to report a significant net loss on revenues of less than $10 million for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2011.
As part of the action described above, the company announced today that it is eliminating 150 positions across the organization. Upon completion of the action, AMSC expects to employ nearly 600 people worldwide. AMSC expects to incur restructuring charges of $3 million to $4 million for severance and related expenses in the quarter ended September 30, 2011.
“These workforce reductions are necessary to maintain the health of the business in the wake of our business and contractual issues with Sinovel,” said AMSC President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel McGahn.
“Expenses have been reduced in virtually all departments, levels and major geographies, but we have focused on limiting the impact on customer-facing and research and development functions, which are integral to our growth and diversification initiatives.”
In addition, the company announced today that, by August 16, 2011, it plans to submit to the Nasdaq Stock Market a plan to regain compliance with Nasdaq Stock Market listing rules. AMSC continues to work on its restated financial statements for the fiscal quarters ended September 30, 2010 and December 31, 2010, and its financial statements for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 and the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2011.
