Badger Meter Promotes Kenneth Bockhorst to President; Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend
Badger
Meter, Inc. (NYSE: BMI) announced that Kenneth Bockhorst has been
promoted to president, effective immediately. Richard Meeusen will
continue to serve as chairman and chief executive officer of the
company. In addition, today its board of directors declared a regular
quarterly cash dividend of $0.13 per share to shareholders of record on
May 31, 2018, payable June 15, 2018. This is the same amount voted in
the previous quarter.
“Ken’s leadership at Badger Meter has been a positive force since his
first day on the job,” said Richard A. Meeusen, chairman and chief
executive officer of Badger Meter. “His deep and diverse experience in
global manufacturing, product development and continuous improvement
have proven to be a tremendous asset to our company, colleagues and
customers. I look forward to continuing to partner with Ken as he
effectively influences our strategic growth, both domestically and
internationally.”
Bockhorst joined Badger Meter in October 2017 as chief operating
officer, overseeing the company’s municipal water and flow
instrumentation manufacturing, engineering, sales and marketing and
acquisition activities. Previously, he served as executive vice
president of the energy segment of Actuant Corporation (NYSE: ATU), a
$1.1 billion diversified industrial company with operations in more than
30 countries.
“Since joining Badger Meter, I have been impressed by the experience of
our team, the sophistication of our products and operations and our
strong financial position, which together have positioned us to grow
both organically and, when strategically appropriate, through
acquisition,” said Bockhorst. “I’m thrilled to be part of this great
organization and look forward to continuing to work with the team to
shape the future of water conservation, consumption and process control.”
As previously announced, one member of the board of directors did not
stand for re-election at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting,
held today. As planned, the board decreased the number of directors
constituting the board by one to a total of eight, with seven members
serving as independent directors, effective today.
About Badger Meter
Badger Meter is an innovator in flow measurement, control and
communications solutions, serving water utilities, municipalities, and
commercial and industrial customers worldwide. The Company’s products
measure water, oil, chemicals, and other fluids, and are known for
accuracy, long-lasting durability and for providing valuable and timely
measurement data. For more information, visit www.badgermeter.com.
Certain statements contained in this news release, as well as other
information provided from time to time by Badger Meter, Inc. (the
“Company”) or its employees, may contain forward looking statements that
involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those in the forward looking statements. The
words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “think,” “should,”
“could” and “objective” or similar expressions are intended to identify
forward looking statements. All such forward looking statements
are based on the Company’s then current views and assumptions and
involve risks and uncertainties. Some risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
expressed or implied in forward looking statements include those
described in Item 1A of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2017 that include, among other things:
-
the continued shift in the Company’s business from lower cost,
manually read meters toward more expensive, value-added automatic
meter reading (AMR) systems, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI)
systems and advanced metering analytics (AMA) systems that offer more
comprehensive solutions to customers’ metering needs;
-
the success or failure of newer Company products;
-
changes in competitive pricing and bids in both the domestic and
foreign marketplaces, and particularly in continued intense price
competition on government bid contracts for lower cost, manually read
meters;
-
the actions (or lack thereof) of the Company’s competitors;
-
changes in the Company’s relationships with its alliance partners,
primarily its alliance partners that provide radio solutions, and
particularly those that sell products that do or may compete with the
Company’s products;
-
changes in the general health of the United States and foreign
economies, including to some extent such things as the length and
severity of global economic downturns, international or civil
conflicts that affect international trade, the ability of municipal
water utility customers to authorize and finance purchases of the
Company’s products, the Company’s ability to obtain financing, housing
starts in the United States, and overall industrial activity;
-
unusual weather, weather patterns or other natural phenomena,
including related economic and other ancillary effects of any such
events;
-
economic policy changes, including but not limited to, trade policy
and corporate taxation;
-
the timing and impact of government funding programs that stimulate
national and global economies, as well as the impact of government
budget cuts or partial shutdowns of governmental operations;
-
changes in the cost and/or availability of needed raw materials and
parts, such as volatility in the cost of brass castings as a result of
fluctuations in commodity prices, particularly for copper and scrap
metal at the supplier level, foreign-sourced electronic components as
a result of currency exchange fluctuations and/or lead times, and
plastic resin as a result of changes in petroleum and natural gas
prices;
-
the Company’s ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses
or products;
-
changes in foreign economic conditions, particularly currency
fluctuations in the United States dollar, the Euro and the Mexican
peso;
-
the inability to develop technologically advanced products;
-
the failure of the Company’s products to operate as intended;
-
the inability to protect the Company’s proprietary rights to its
products;
-
the Company’s expanded role as a prime contractor for providing
complete technology systems to governmental entities, which brings
with it added risks, including but not limited to, the Company’s
responsibility for subcontractor performance, additional costs and
expenses if the Company and its subcontractors fail to meet the
timetable agreed to with the governmental entity, and the Company’s
expanded warranty and performance obligations;
-
disruptions and other damages to information technology and other
networks and operations due to breaches in data security or any other
cybersecurity attack;
-
transportation delays or interruptions;
-
violations or alleged violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act (FCPA) or other anti-corruption laws and the Foreign
Account Tax Compliance provisions of the Hiring Incentives to Restore
Employment Act (referred to as FATCA);
-
the loss of or disruption in certain single-source suppliers; and
-
changes in laws and regulations, particularly laws dealing with the
content or handling of materials used in the Company's products.
All of these factors are beyond the Company's control to varying
degrees. Shareholders, potential investors and other readers are
urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward
looking statements contained in this news release and are cautioned not
to place undue reliance on such forward looking statements. The
forward looking statements made in this document are made only as of the
date of this document and the Company assumes no obligation, and
disclaims any obligation, to update any such forward looking statements
to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
Badger Meter company news is available 24 hours a day, on-line at: http://www.badgermeter.com.
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