Force Protection hires new managers after accounting woes surface
By JIM DAVENPORT, Associated Press WriterTuesday, March 04, 2008COLUMBIA (AP) -- Armored vehicle maker Force Protection Inc. shuffled management Monday, just three days after telling shareholders it had major accounting problems tied to recording inventory.
Force Protection shares were down 13 percent in Nasdaq trading Monday, off 53 cents at $3.58. It started the day down 67 cents a share, or off 16 percent.
The maker of mine-protected vehicles said Friday that it would delay filing its year-end financial report and that its third-quarter results should no longer be relied upon because management "discovered significant accounting errors during its year-end review."
The company cited errors in how it recorded accounts payable tied to inventory bought from a subcontractor brought on by a contract being terminated.
Michael Moody was appointed as CEO, president and chairman to replace CEO Gordon McGilton, who left at the end of January, the company said Monday.
"Recent events have clearly underlined that there is a tremendous amount of work to do and that there is significant urgency to many of the tasks at hand," Moody said in a news release. "We will quickly address our shortcomings and further strengthen the areas of our business that have carried us thus far. As we do so, the culture at Force Protection will change."
Force Protection also announced chief operating officer Raymond Pollard left the company Monday to pursue other interests.
Force Protection also says Francis E. Scheuerell Jr. will serve as interim chief financial officer. He replaces Michael Durski, who left on Friday. The company says Scheuerell has had significant involvement in other public companies' financial report restatements.
Also on Monday, Force Protection said it expected to report revenue of about $875 million in 2007, up sharply from $196 million in 2006, mostly because of new military contracts. However, it expected net income to remain nearly the same at $16.6 million.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect Force Protection to report an average profit of $40.8 million for the year, on $647.4 million in revenue.
