Anaheim-based stucco maker ParexLahabra Inc. has had enough with cuts.
The company, part of France’s Materis SAS, says it is ready to build.
It has seen its sales fall by about a third as its stucco, wall coatings, tile installation and other building products have seen sparse demand from a quiet development market.
ParexLahabra doesn’t disclose exact revenue figures, other than to say it does more than $50 million a year. Materis has yearly sales of more than $2.6 billion.
ParexLahabra’s business is split between commercial building, where it mostly sells coatings and tiles, and housing, where it sells stucco,including its Lahabra brand, which has been in business since 1926.
Its products are found locally at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa in Anaheim, Irvine Valley College, Soka University in Aliso Viejo and much of the Irvine Spectrum.
“This crisis is unique because all kinds of changes are taking place,” said Chief Executive Rodrigo Lacerda, who took over the business earlier in the month after moving from France. “We were used to seeing steady increases before this.”
So far, the company’s cut its workforce by about a quarter to 400 workers across the country.
That number could have been higher, but the company renegotiated rents and cut down on building expenses by 30%.
Anaheim employees have picked up a lot of the work from those who were let go, mainly in finance, marketing and accounting jobs that previously were done in other locations.
“The cuts have mostly benefited Anaheim,” Lacerda said. “There were no layoffs there.”
But the company only can cut so much, Lacerda said. Creating products and expanding into new markets are his priorities, he
said.
“When the market isn’t growing you have to do a lot of thinking over how to make money,” he said.
Like many in Lacerda’s industry, he said he expects the market to rebound next year and wants to be prepared for it.
Plants
ParexLahabra has 10 plants across the country that churn out stucco and other products, including one in Riverside that employs about 50 workers,many of whom earlier moved from Anaheim.
A new plant costs $5 million to $10 million and can produce about 100,000 tons of stucco a year. ParexLahabra recently built a plant in Albuquerque, N.M.
The company’s been making a push to sell in the Midwest, but isn’t ready to pull the trigger on a plant there, according to Lacerda.
New products for the company include a dust free stucco it markets as being less messy, with fewer health risks.
The product now makes up 10% of stucco sales after coming out last year.
The company also is looking to grow through acquisitions,tapping parent Materis for funding.
“We’re always looking for good companies,” he said. “The recession is an opportunity to see who stands and who crumbles.”
Materis started its U.S. operation with a small plant in Georgia in the 1980s.
It moved its headquarters to Anaheim in 2000 with its purchase of Lahabra.
Since then, it’s had six company buys in the past seven years.
Some larger competitors include Omega Products International in Corona, Thompson Building Material in Warrenton, Va., Rhode Island-based Dryvit Systems Inc. and Germany’s Sto AG.
