Significant Challenges, Aggressive Action
Responding promptly and decisively to these adverse conditions, we took a number of actions to restructure our operations to align costs with reduced demand. We deeply regret that this meant eliminating the jobs of many excellent employees.

In all, we reduced our total global workforce by approximately 18 percent and closed or sold 10 facilities in 2001. Similarly, we managed our cash prudently, eliminating unnecessary capital spending and focusing intensively on working-capital initiatives. These actions were painful, but for GenTek’s future we made the hard decisions that an economic downturn often necessitates.

The deterioration in GenTek’s profitability has also impacted the company’s debt load, leaving us with a more highly leveraged balance sheet than is acceptable. While we are working closely with our principal lenders and advisors to improve GenTek’s capital structure and enhance our financial flexibility, we do have sufficient liquidity to continue providing our customers with the same high level of service they’ve come to expect from GenTek.