David Wathen, President and CEO of TriMas Corporation (TRS), Interviews with The Wall Street Transcript
67 WALL STREET, New York - December 5, 2013 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Industrial Equipment, Aerospace and Defense Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs and Equity Analysts. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
Topics covered: Defense Budget Uncertainty - Capital Equipment Technology Investing - Growth Opportunities in Data Security - International Consumption Growth - Professional Security Equipment
Companies include: TriMas Corporation (TRS) and many more.
In the following excerpt from the Industrial Equipment, Aerospace and Defense Report, the President and CEO of TriMas Corporation (TRS) discusses company strategy and the outlook for this vital industry:
TWST: When it comes to acquisitions, can you give us a sense of your overall strategy? What additional capabilities or geographic presence would it make sense for you to obtain via acquisition?
Mr. Wathen: A few years ago when the management team decided, with the division presidents, that we could differentiate with growth. We decided we can't just predict we grow every place. We picked the geographies that made the most sense for us. A lot of our products wind up with middle-class consumers, whether it'd be airline seats for an aircraft or refined petroleum that goes into plastics or dispensers that are in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. The candidate countries were pretty obvious, China and India, and we weren't sure about Vietnam. Also obvious was Brazil because of the traction of the growth in energy there. We said we would pursue those countries and we've been doing that. If you made a matrix of where we've done acquisitions or investments on our own, they are in those countries, because we'd rather do a few things well than get spread too thin.
We've got a push going on in South Africa, because of some key customers that are there. It's not like we have to go start from nothing. We follow a customer who we've already got a relationship with, so we are seeing opportunities to follow either our direct customers or that middle-class customer. There is a lot of growth in the middle class in places like Thailand and other parts of Asia. That said, there are places we aren't, and over time you will see us do a lot more in the rest of South America rather than just Brazil. We've concentrated on Brazil because of the energy there, the new oilfields and all, and the same thing in parts of Asia. We also do very little in Eastern Europe.
We've got a little bit of work going on in some oil and energy applications, but we have...
For more of this interview and many others visit the Wall Street Transcript - a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs, portfolio managers and research analysts. This special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
