SAN FRANCISCO, May 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Building Materials HoldingCorporation (NYSE: BLG), a leading provider of building materials andconstruction services to professional residential builders and contractors,today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary BMC West will close itsmillwork and building materials distribution facilities in Merced andBakersfield, California. Both markets will continue to be served from nearbyBMC West operations in Modesto and Fresno and the existing sales force willremain in place. The closures will affect approximately 30 employees and areexpected to be completed within the next sixty days.
'The difficult decision to close our facilities in Merced and Bakersfieldis a necessity based on today's challenging business environment and weaknessin the housing markets in California's Central Valley,' said Stanley M.Wilson, President and Chief Operating Officer. 'Single-family housing permitsin the Central Valley markets we serve have fallen sharply from 4,905 in thefirst quarter of 2007 to only 1,877 in the first quarter of 2008. At thesegreatly reduced volumes, we are no longer able to justify the costs associatedwith operating these two facilities.'
'We thank all the employees of our Merced and Bakersfield facilities fortheir hard work and dedication. Today's announcement is in no way a reflectionon their performance. Unfortunately, despite their hard work, the marketfactors forcing this closure are beyond our control,' added Mr. Wilson.
About BMHC
BMHC is one of the largest providers of building materials and residentialconstruction services in the United States. We serve the homebuilding industrythrough two recognized brands: as BMC West, we distribute building materialsand manufacture building components for professional builders and contractorsin the western and southern states; as SelectBuild, we provide constructionservices to high-volume production homebuilders in key markets across thecountry. To learn more about BMHC, visit our website at http://www.bmhc.com.
BUSINESS RISKS AND FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
There are a number of business risks and uncertainties that affect ouroperations and therefore could cause future results to differ from pastperformance or expected results.
