Atlas Engineered Products in 'solid financial position' according to CEO

Atlas Engineered Products Ltd (CVE:AEP) (OTCMKTS:APEUF) has been deemed an essential business in Ontario, allowing it to continue providing construction services in the province as businesses close their doors to wait out the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter, CEO Dirk Maritz also assured shareholders that the company was in a solid financial position thanks in part to a series of operational steps the Nanaimo, British Columbia-based firm took in 2019.

The construction and engineering company recently closed an oversubscribed public placement of C$4.5 million to fund future acquisitions and enhance its working capital.

Maritz said that the company continues to closely monitor the situation at each of its location in light of “unprecedented” times.

“We have developed a proactive company-wide approach and response to how we navigate potential impacts to AEP, maintain our social responsibilities as well as minimize the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19),” Maritz wrote in the letter to shareholders.

“We have a solid business continuity and interruption plan, which we are diligently executing.”

None of AEP’s employees have tested positive for coronavirus, Maritz told shareholders.

Maritz expressed confidence that its 1Q 2020 revenues should exceed the year-ago quarter, despite a wider economic slowdown.

The firm continues to manufacture from about half of its locations, according to Maritz. The CEO assured investors it will continue to monitor any changes to the operating environment and have a response plan to protect its cash resources, including scaling down costs and cash outflows to match with revenues.

The company said that monetary and fiscal stimuli from all levels of government typically have positive effects on its industry.

“AEP is a healthy and fundamentally sound business,” Maritz wrote.

“We (have) a healthy amount of cash, and a well-defined and implemented cash preservation strategy as a part of our business continuity and/or interruption plans, in this uncertain period. We believe that we are well-positioned to weather a storm.”

Story by ProactiveInvestors