Waukesha-based Generac Holdings Inc. is in the process of moving assembly and distribution work from a facility in Winooski, Vermont to its Jefferson, Wisconsin facility.
The company acquired the Vermont facility as part of the 2015 acquisition of Country Home Products, which manufactures engine-powered equipment used in property maintenance.
“The move allows us to better utilize the existing facility in Jefferson and enables CHP to better focus on its B to C marketing and other core functions that will remain at its headquarters in Vermont,” Aaron Jagdfeld, Generac president and chief executive officer, said during the company’s second quarter earnings call.
Vermont media reports in June indicated the company was closing a manufacturing plant used for the DR Power Equipment business, laying off 67 people by the end of the year.
A Generac spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment, including hiring plans in Jefferson.
Generac reported $395.4 million in revenue during the second quarter, a 7.6 percent increase over last year. Jagdfeld said the company saw a 6 percent organic increase in the core business and a $9.5 million contribution from the acquisition of Motortech.
Net income improved by 22.9 percent to $25.7 million and earnings improved from 31 to 41 cents per diluted share.
“We are pleased with our second quarter results with strong organic sales growth compared to the prior year leading to an improvement in overall operating earnings and cash flow,” Jagdfeld said. “Shipments of home standby generators in particular were very strong in the quarter as higher power outage activity and targeted marketing in the first half drove increased activations as every region in the U.S. experienced solid double digit growth year-over-year.”
The company also said it would be launching a promotional campaign in the third quarter targeted around the five year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy and featuring a smaller standby generator with a fixed install price.
The campaign will be run nationally, but Jagdfeld said it will likely run a bit more in the Northeast portion of the country. He noted the first half of the year was the first time since Sandy the Northeast portion of the country saw an increase in activations.
“The Northeast market in terms of activations has been sequentially down every year since Sandy,” he said. “It’s been a really tough run. It was just Sandy had that much of an impact on that region.”
