Aegion Appoints Charles Gordon As CEO; Cuts FY14 Earnings Outlook

(RTTNews) - Aegion Corp. (AEGN) said Monday that it has appointed Charles Gordon as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.

Gordon remains a member of the company's Board of Directors.

"After a comprehensive search process that included the evaluation of several qualified candidates for the position of President and Chief Executive Officer, the Board has unanimously approved Chuck's appointment. This decision was not only based on his previous executive and industry experiences, but also on the leadership qualities he has displayed while in the role of interim Chief Executive Officer," said Alfred Woods, Chairman of the Aegion Board of Directors.

The company also said that it will realign its businesses into three new platforms with unique leadership teams. Aegion will combine the Water & Wastewater and Commercial & Structural segments to form the Infrastructure Solutions platform. The Corrosion Protection platform will retain the original businesses comprising the Energy & Mining platform. The new Energy Services Platform consists of Brinderson's operations with respect to long-term maintenance contracts and other essential services including engineering, turnaround and small capital construction for the upstream and downstream oil and gas markets, primarily in California.

As part of the realignment and restructuring plan, Aegion expects to record certain pre-tax charges, mainly in the third and fourth quarters of 2014. The company expects the restructuring initiative to be completed over the next year.

The company said it expects to generate annual savings of $8 to $11 million, or $0.15 to $0.20 per share, on a GAAP basis, with $0.03 to $0.04 per share in anticipated savings recognized in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Due to several recent events that adversely affected its outlook for the second half of 2014 for the Energy & Mining and Commercial & Structural platforms, Aegion reduced its full year 2014 adjusted earnings per share guidance to $1.27 to $1.37, including the estimated $0.03 to $0.04 per share benefit from the realignment actions in the fourth quarter, but excluding all restructuring charges. The company previously expected full year adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations in the range of $1.50 to $1.65.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters currently expect the company to earn $1.54 per share for the full year 2014.

Aegion shares are currently losing 9.30% in after hours trading after closing Monday's regular trading sesion at $22.05, down 24 cents or 1.08%.