The bankruptcy case of Armstrong Flooring is nearing its end.
- U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath approved the sale yesterday of the company’s North American assets to Mountville-based flooring manufacturer AHF Products and Boston-based Gordon Brothers.
- An AHF spokesperson said yesterday the company hopes to close on the $107 million deal by next Friday, July 22.
Then what: AHF will continue to operate Armstrong Flooring plants in Lancaster, Beech Creek and Kankakee, Illinois. The plants make luxury vinyl tile and other flooring products for residential and commercial markets.
- Gordon Brothers, a liquidation and turnaround firm, will oversee the wind-down of operations at two other plants, in Oklahoma and Mississippi.
- While local factory jobs appear safe, others may not be. An Armstrong Flooring spokesperson said the company is working with the Lancaster Chamber to plan events to help displaced workers draft resumes and find new jobs.
- Efforts to quantify the potential toll were not successful. But in an interview with news outlet LNP, AHF president and CEO Brian Carson said AHF would hire about 80% of the factory workforce.
- In a statement to biznewsPA, he noted that the company will be hiring more than factory workers.
- “We will be hiring people for the plants, sales and headquarters that are necessary to run a smaller business and that are not redundant with our current staff,” Carson said in an emailed statement.
Where will they work: At AHF’s headquarters in Mountville, Carson said in the statement.
- HF does not plan to use the main office of Armstrong Flooring, he added.
- The office, which also includes a showroom and R&D space, opened last year in the Greenfield business park. developed by High Real Estate Group.
How big is the combined business: Hard to say.
- As a private company, AHF does not disclose annual sales. But in his statement, Carson said the business has roughly doubled since 2019.
- “This growth has been fueled by acquisitions and the resulting brand, customer and product category expansions,” Carson said. “This purchase will further grow our business.”
- The company has about 2,600 employees working at factories and distribution centers across the U.S. and in Cambodia.
Are there any clues: A few, buried in annual reports.
- AHF was the hardwood flooring division of Armstrong Flooring before being sold off and becoming a standalone company in 2019. It is owned by Dallas-based private equity firm Paceline Equity Partners.
- Wood flooring generated sales of $387 million for Armstrong Flooring in 2018, according to the publicly traded company’s annual report for the year.
- Armstrong Flooring had sales of $649.9 million in 2021.
- The U.S. and Canada accounted for $513.2 million of the total, according to the company’s most recent annual report.
- The math suggests AHF could have close to or more than $1 billion in annual sales, which would make it one of the region’s largest privately held companies.
