-to-Business initiative, OrderKeystone.com.
The
Companys critical management systems are housed at a third-party, offsite data center that is fully redundant across its infrastructure to ensure operations are continuously maintained. The data center is secure and monitored 24-hours a day
throughout the year by competent and skilled technical staff. All hardware used by the Company is from proven providers in the technology industry including the companies that supply data and telecommunication services. Systems are backed up daily
and stored offsite with a third party storage and archiving company.
Systems are continually evaluated to ensure all critical systems
remain scaleable and operational as the Company continues to grow.
Competition
Based upon industry estimates, the Company believes that more than a majority of collision parts by dollar amount used in the repair of damaged vehicles
are supplied by OEMs with the balance being supplied by
distributors of aftermarket collision parts and by distributors of salvage parts. The Company encounters intense competition from OEMs, all of which have
substantially greater financial, distribution, marketing and other resources, including greater brand recognition and a broader selection of collision parts, than the Company. Accordingly, OEMs are in a position to exert pricing and other
competitive pressure on the Company. The distribution industry for aftermarket collision parts is highly fragmented and the Companys competitors, other than OEMs, generally are independently owned distributors having from one to three
distribution centers. In addition to intense competition from OEMs, the Company is encountering significant competition from other distributors of aftermarket parts including automobile dealerships, who are able to offer repair shops one-stop
procurement; distributors of salvage parts, in particular, LKQ Corporation; and buying groups.
The Company competes with OEMs on the basis
of price and product quality, and it competes with distributors of aftermarket collision parts primarily on the basis of the competitive advantages provided by its position as the market leader with a nationwide distribution system, its Platinum
Plus product line, experienced executive management and service center managers, entrepreneurial corporate culture, superior customer service, its relationship with certain insurance companies, and, to a lesser extent, on the basis of price.
The Companys chrome bumper plating operations compete in the wholesale bumper distribution segment of the market with many small
chrome bumper platers or distributors in virtually every geographical market in which it operates. The Company competes with small chrome bumper platers and distributors primarily on the basis of quality and service. Over the last 10 years, there
has been a significant decrease in the number of small bumper platers as a result of the decreasing use of chrome plated bumpers on new automobiles and the increasing environmental requirements for electroplaters. The Company believes that this
trend will continue, creating more sales opportunities for larger regional chrome bumper platers, who are capable of meeting the increased financial and environmental requirements. The Company also encounters competition from the OEMs who
supply new replacement bumpers to the collision repair market and it competes with these OEMs on the basis of price and perceived product quality.
Government Regulation and Environmental Hazards
The Company is subject to increasing restrictions imposed by various
federal, state and local laws and regulations. Various state and federal regulatory agencies, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of
Transportation have jurisdiction over the Companys operations with respect to matters including worker safety, community and employee right-to-know laws, shipping and laws regarding clean air and water. In addition, certain state
legislatures and regulators are considering imposing, or have imposed, restrictions on the use of aftermarket collision parts. The General Accounting Office (GAO) report to the United States Congress, released in January 2001, captioned
NHTSAs Ability to Detect and Recall Defective Replacement Crash Parts is Limited may eventually result in hearings in Congress and possible legislation which could be adverse to the interests of Keystone. See Risk
Factors below for additional information about governmental activities with respect to aftermarket collision replacement parts.
See
Risk Factors below for information with respect to the Companys environmental exposure.
Employees
At June 1, 2006, the Company had 3,761 full-time team members, of whom 395 were engaged in corporate management and administration, 1,759 in sales
and customer service, 865 in warehousing and shipping and 742 in remanufacturing. None of the Companys team members are covered by collective bargaining agreements. The Company considers its relations with its team members to be satisfactory.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
We encounter intense competition from OEMs, all of which have substantially greater financial, distribution, marketing and other resources.
It is estimated that substantially in excess of 50% of collision parts by dollar amount are supplied by OEMs, with the balance being supplied by
distributors like the Company and by distributors of salvage parts. The OEMs are therefore in a position to exert pricing pressure in marketplace. We compete with the OEMs primarily on price and to a lesser extent on perceived quality. Recently,
several OEMs have experimented with reducing prices on specific products to meet the lower-priced aftermarket products. If such price reductions were to become widespread, it could have a material adverse impact on the Company. In addition, a number
of large OEM dealers have recently begun distributing aftermarket collision parts in addition to distributing OEM collision parts, offering collision repair facilities one-stop shopping.
Other OEM direct and indirect activities designed to eliminate the aftermarket as competition have increased our expenses and are designed to threaten our business.
During the past ten years, legislation has been introduced or considered in over 40 states seeking to prohibit or limit the use of aftermarket parts in
collision repair and/or require special disclosure before using aftermarket parts in repairs covered by insurance. This legislature is generally introduced and supported at the behest of the OEMs and/or their dealers.
At the present time, legislation regulating the use of aftermarket parts has been adopted in over 40 states. The most common form of regulation, adopted
in 35 states, requires disclosure to the vehicle owner that aftermarket crash parts will be used in the repair of the vehicle. An estimated 21 states require the aftermarket part to have the name or logo of the manufacturer affixed to the part. A
few states (i) require some form of consent from the vehicle owner before aftermarket parts can be used in the repair, (ii) require that before an aftermarket part can be used in the repair of the vehicle, the part must generally be equal
or equivalent in fit, quality and performance to the original equipment part it is replacing or (iii) require the use, under certain circumstances, of aftermarket parts which have been certified by an independent testing facility to be of like
kind and quality to the original equipment part. Some states require a combination of the types of regulations described above.
Ford and
General Motors are attempting to use litigation based upon claims of infringement of trademarks or design patents against the Company and certain aftermarket manufacturers located in Taiwan to restrict or eliminate the sale of aftermarket parts. If
they are successful it could have a material adverse impact on the Company and the entire aftermarket collision parts industry. For details, refer to Item 3. Legal Proceedings below.
We depend upon the continued acceptance of aftermarket collision parts by insurance companies in the repair of policyholders vehicles.
Based upon industry sources, the Company estimates that approximately 85% of automobile collision repair work is paid for in part by insurance;
accordingly, the Companys business is highly dependent upon the continued acceptance of aftermarket collision replacement parts by the insurance industry and the governmental agencies that regulate insurance companies and the ability of
insurers to recommend the use of such parts for collision repair jobs, as opposed to OEM parts.
Our business has been negatively impacted by litigation
challenging the use of aftermarket collision replacement parts in the repair of vehicles covered by insurance.
Over the past 15 years,
there have been numerous lawsuits relating to the use of aftermarket parts in repairing motor vehicles. The majority of these cases have been brought by class action attorneys against
insurance companies, primarily alleging a violation of the insurance contract and state consumer protection laws because of the specification of aftermarket
crash parts for the repair of policyholders vehicles. Plaintiffs attorneys allege that aftermarket parts are inferior to OEM parts and thus are incapable of restoring a vehicle to its pre-loss condition as required by many
insurance policies.
The leading case involving aftermarket crash parts Avery v. State Farm Insurance Company was brought
in the Circuit Court in Marion, Illinois in July 1997 (Madison County). In that case, plaintiffs asserted claims for breach of contract, consumer fraud and equitable relief relating to State Farms practice at that time of sometimes
specifying aftermarket parts rather than OEM parts when adjusting claims for the damage to insured vehicles. It was alleged that this practice breached State Farms insurance agreements with its policyholders and was a violation of the Illinois
Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. In October 1999, after a lengthy trial, the jury in Avery awarded plaintiffs compensatory damages of approximately $586 million. In addition, the judge assessed punitive damages against
State Farm of over $600 million. In April 2001, the Appellate Court of Illinois, Fifth District, upheld the verdict, reducing the damages by $130 million, resulting in an aggregate award of $1.06 billion. Thereafter, a Petition for Allowance of
Appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court was filed by State Farm. In October 2002, the Illinois Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal. On August 18, 2005, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the judgments of the Circuit and Appellate Courts
resulting in a termination of the case in favor of State Farm. The Illinois Supreme Court denied plaintiffs request for a rehearing. Plaintiffs filed a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court seeking a reversal of the action by the
Illinois Supreme Court. The United States Supreme Court did not grant certiorari and the dismissal of the Avery case is now final.
Currently, there are a number of other aftermarket parts cases pending in various jurisdictions across the country, including a statewide class action against the Farmers Group in the State of California. The Company has not been made a
party in any of these cases. There can be no assurance, however, that the Company will not be brought into one of these cases or some other aftermarket parts case in the future.
A substantial portion of the Companys business consists of the distribution of aftermarket crash parts to collision repair shops. The vast majority
of the customers of the repair shops are covered by insurance policies. In the event aftermarket crash parts are no longer specified by a number of insurance companies to repair insured vehicles, the aggregate cost to consumers could be substantial
and the impact on the Company would be material and adverse.
We are dependent upon a relatively small group of suppliers and may be adversely impacted
by raw material shortages, primarily steel and nickel and price increases in these materials.
The Company is dependent on a relatively
small number of suppliers. Although alternative suppliers exist for substantially all products distributed by the Company, the loss of any one supplier could have a material adverse effect on the Company until alternative suppliers are located and
have commenced providing products. In fiscal 2006, approximately 44% of the products distributed by the Company by dollar amount were manufactured in the United States or Canada and approximately 56% were imported directly or indirectly from
manufacturers in Asia. As a result, the Companys operations are subject to the customary risks of doing business abroad, including, among other things, transportation delays, political instability, currency fluctuations and the imposition of
tariffs, import and export controls and other non-tariff barriers (including changes in the allocation of quotas), as well as the uncertainty regarding future relations between China and Taiwan.
Because a substantial volume of our sales involves parts manufactured from sheet metal, we can be adversely impacted if sheet metal becomes unavailable
or is only available at higher prices, which we may not be able to pass on to our customers.
We rely upon a fleet of our trucks to deliver substantially all of our products to our customers and increases in fuel
prices or other difficulties with our fleet may be material to our results of operations.
We use a fleet of trucks to deliver the
majority of the products we sell. We are subject to the risks associated with providing trucking services, including inclement weather, disruptions in the transportation infrastructure, availability and price of fuel, liabilities arising from
accidents to the extent we are not covered by insurance and insurance premium increases. In addition, our failure to deliver products in a timely and accurate manner could harm our reputation, which could have an adverse effect on our business.
We estimate that our fleet of trucks travel over 67.2 million miles per year and increases in fuel prices have a negative impact on
our results of operations.
A decline in the number of collision repairs could have a material adverse impact on the Company.
Because our business depends on vehicle accidents for the demand for repairs using our products, factors which influence the number and/or severity of
accidents, including, but not limited to, the number of vehicles on the road, the number of miles driven, the ages of drivers, distracted drivers, the congestion of traffic, the occurrence and severity of certain weather conditions, and the
conditions of the roadways impact our business. In this regard, a number of states municipalities have adopted, or are considering adopting, legislation banning the use of handheld cellular telephones while driving and such restrictions could lead
to a decline in accidents. Moreover, rising fuel prices may cause the number of vehicles on the road to decline as motorists seek alternative transportation options and this also could lead to a decline in accidents.
We are subject to numerous factors that impact our sales and earnings both short-term and long-term, many of which may be adverse.
We experience intense competition not only from OEMs but from the many distributors located throughout the country. We compete on the basis of price and
service with the other distributors and our ability to raise prices depends not only on these competitors but on the prices being charged by the OEMs for similar parts. Aftermarket parts must be priced at a discount to OEM parts to be competitive.
Other factors discussed above also impact our results.
While our sales have increased substantially over each of the last five fiscal
years and our net income during the last fiscal year was substantially higher than in the prior fiscal year, there can be no assurance that the Company will be able to maintain similar increases in the future.
We rely heavily on Information Technology in most aspects of our business from order entry through billing and collection to financial statement preparation and
disruptions may adversely impact our business.
We employ approximately 47 persons in our Information Technology group. In addition, we
rely heavily upon third parties for updating our software systems and operating offsite facilities. Disruptions in our relationships with these outside vendors could be material and adverse to the Company. Further, disruptions in our systems would
negatively impact our ability to do business with our customers and if the disruptions continued over a period of time could have a material adverse impact on the Companys results of operations.
We are subject to compliance with government laws and regulations, including environmental restrictions.
The Company is subject to increasing restrictions imposed by various federal, state and local laws and regulations. Various state and federal regulatory
agencies, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the EPA and the United States Department of Transportation, have jurisdiction over the Companys operations with respect to matters including worker safety, community and
employee
right-to-know laws, and laws regarding clean air and water. Under various federal, state and local laws and regulations, an owner or lessee of
real estate or the operator of a business may be liable for the costs of removal or remediation of certain hazardous or toxic substances located on or in, or emanating from, property owned or used in the business, as well as related costs of
investigation and property damage. Such laws often impose such liability without regard to whether the owner, lessee or operator knew of, or was responsible for, the presence of such hazardous or toxic substances. Other than as described below with
respect to its bumper plating operations, at two locations, the Company does not currently generate substantial hazardous waste in the ordinary course of its business. The Company believes that it currently is in substantial compliance with all
applicable laws and regulations, and is not aware of any material environmental problem at any of its current or former facilities. No assurance can be given, however, that the Companys prior activities or the activities of a prior owner or
operator of an acquired service center or other facility did not create a material environmental problem for which the Company could be responsible or that future uses or conditions (including, without limitation, changes in applicable laws and
regulations) will not result in material environmental liability to the Company. Furthermore, compliance with legislative or regulatory changes may cause future increases in the Companys operating costs or otherwise adversely affect
operations. Certain of the Companys products, such as paints and solvents, are highly flammable. Accordingly, the storage and transportation of these materials expose the Company to the inherent risk of fire. During the past three years, two
locations have been destroyed by fire, in each case covered by insurance.
Our Common Stock is subject to significant fluctuations for a variety of
reasons, many of which are beyond the control of the Company.
The trading price of the Companys Common Stock may be subject to
significant fluctuations as a result of variations in the Companys actual or anticipated operating results, changes in general market conditions and other factors. In recent years, the stock market generally has experienced significant price
and volume fluctuations which often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of a specific company or industry. There can be no assurance that the market price of the Companys Common Stock will not decline below the
current market price or that results in the future may not disappoint and cause an erosion of the stock price.
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.
Keystone Automotive Indust (KEYS) - Description of business
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Level 2 quotes
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Key executives
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