Conrad Appoints New CEO, Announces 2Q Results

Conrad Industries, Inc. announced the appointment of Kenneth G. "Jerry" Myers, Jr. as president and CEO, effective Aug. 27, 2001. Myers has spent the past 21 years with Avondale Industries serving in various senior management positions. Most recently, he served as vice president in charge of managing Avondale's largest shipbuilding program. While at Avondale, Myers has also held positions including: chief information officer; vice president - business review, in charge of government program accounting, where he managed over $10 billion in government contracts; assistant vice president responsible for mergers and acquisitions; and assistant controller. John P. Conrad, co-chairman of the board said, "Jerry is a highly skilled, seasoned executive with an impressive range of experience in every facet of shipyard management, including manufacturing, design, contract management, procurement, estimating, marketing, information technology and finance. We believe he is uniquely suited to lead our company through its next phase of strategic growth and beyond." The company is in discussions with its current CEO William H. Hidalgo regarding the terms of his future relationship with and/or severance from the company. Mr. Conrad added, "We are grateful for Bill's outstanding contributions in taking Conrad from a private company to the growing public company it is today. Bill successfully led Conrad through the acquisition of Orange Shipbuilding in 1998. He also successfully led Conrad through the downturn in our industry in 1999-2000 while reducing overall debt and positioning us to generate the positive earnings we report today." Conrad Industries, Inc. reported net income of $976,000 for the three months ended June 30, 2001, compared to net income of $576,000 for the three months ended June 30, 2000. The company had net income of $1.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2001, compared to net income of $1.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2000. Revenues for the three months ended June 30, 2001 were $12.2 million, compared to $8.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2000. Revenues for the six months ended June 30, 2001 were $24.1 million, compared to $18.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2000. The company's backlog was $10.9 million at June 30, 2001 as compared to $18.8 million at June 30, 2000. Gross profit was $2.9 million (24.1 percent of revenue) for the three months ended June 30, 2001 as compared to gross profit of $2.3 million (26.5 percent of revenue) for the three months ended June 30, 2000. Gross profit was $5.7 million (23.7 percent of revenue) for the six months ended June 30, 2001 as compared to gross profit of $4.8 million (26.0 percent of revenue) for the six months ended June 30, 2000. "Our operating results for the 2nd quarter are very similar to our operating results for the 1st quarter," said Conrad. "We are continuing to manage our backlog to take advantage of favorable pricing trends and have added $8 million to our backlog since June 30, 2001. This does not include the previously disclosed potential purchase by the U.S. Army of three additional ST Tugs. These tugs have been authorized and appropriated by Congress for approximately $7.5 million, and we remain optimistic that this project will be added to our backlog before fiscal year end." Conrad also stated, "We continue to move forward with the development of the 52 acres of land located in Amelia, Louisiana and the expansion of our new construction facilities in Morgan City. We expect to be able to utilize this expanded capacity in both repair and conversion and vessel construction during the latter part of this year."