OneWater Marine Inc. announces actions to strengthen financial flexibility in response to COVID-19

by Jack Ezzell 4 Apr 2020 05:12 PDT

OneWater Marine Inc. (NASDAQ: ONEW) ("OneWater") today announced that it is taking additional cost reduction actions to strengthen its financial flexibility amid the COVID-19 global pandemic.

"In an effort to protect our business and enhance our financial flexibility, we are executing on our plan, taking quick and decisive actions to reduce costs across the company, including salary and discretionary expense reductions, limiting capital expenses for non-essential projects, and workforce furloughs and/or reductions. While many unknowns remain, we believe these actions are necessary for the long-term benefit of our team, OEM partners, customers and shareholders," Austin Singleton, Chief Executive Officer of OneWater Marine commented. "These are extraordinary times for our company, particularly for our dealers. We are working hand-in-hand with local management teams to maintain appropriate inventory levels, both now and in the future, support cost enhancement activities, and ensure they remain nimble in this unpredictable environment. We continue to monitor the situation closely and will provide further updates as necessary."

OneWater is taking the following actions, effective immediately, to reduce expenses and preserve liquidity:

• Chief Executive Officer, Austin Singleton, and President and Chief Operating Officer, Anthony Aisquith, have agreed to forgo 100% of their base salaries for the next two months
• For the next three months:
• Chief Financial Officer, Jack Ezzell, and senior managers within the company have agreed to take a 20% base salary reduction
• All other managers and select salaried employees have agreed to take a 10% base salary reduction; and
• Mr. Singleton and several founders of acquired entities have agreed to forgo or defer rents on certain properties
• The Board of Directors have agreed to forgo their cash compensation for a period of six months

Mr. Singleton concluded, "These actions will support OneWater through this difficult operating environment, and we still have the ability to draw $10 million under our existing revolving credit facility, if necessary. We will continue to balance preservation of liquidity and opportunistic growth. While we remain open to completing acquisitions, we will be prudent and conservative in our evaluation of targets to ensure that we maintain our focus on a strong return on investment."