By Stephen Smoot
Last March, hundreds of employees of the former Allegheny Wood Products received the news that many had been dreading. The troubled company ceased operations throughout its global reach of facilities as it defaulted on debts to United Bank and other financial institutions.
This closure included the original mill established by the Crites family in Riverton and the massive production facility in Petersburg.
A court appointed receivership has overseen the properties in West Virginia since March.
It is important to note that the transactions have only gone through initial steps and that nothing yet has been finalized.
Goodfellow Inc., based in Canada, is expected to purchase dry kilns in Petersburg and Hazelton, Preston County. Upset bids at auction were scheduled for July 29 for these facilities and on August 5 for the mills in Riverton and Kingwood, Preston County.
The Canadian company, in operation since 1898, was founded near Montreal. Goodfellow Inc went public 40 years ago on the Toronto Stock Exchange, but the family still has strong ties to company leadership with Patrick Goodfellow serving as president and chief executive officer and Olivia Goodfellow as corporate secretary and director of marketing and communications.
“We are the largest distributor of building and wood products in Canada,” said Olivia Goodfellow. She went on to say that the company took pride this year in celebrating 126 years of existence and that “we have a long history and expertise in hardwoods.”
Their main business lies in “distribution and manufacturing of wood products” with “hardwoods (as) one of our main product categories.”
In recent years, Goodfellow Inc. has expanded more of its United States based operations, purchasing facilities near Pittsburgh and LaGrange, Kentucky.
The same industry headwinds that provided significant challenges to AWP have been weathered by Goodfellow Inc. Olivia Goodfellow stated that “we operate a diverse portfolio of products” and “navigate headwinds with a diverse business model.”
“Our diversity has been our strength for quite some time,” she remarked.
One key difference between the two seems to lie in the fact that Goodfellow Inc. retained the bulk of its international business in North America. AWP grew increasingly dependent on the rising middle class market in the People’s Republic of China, but was hit hard by retaliatory tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
While hardwoods remain the company’s focus, they also are active in the softwoods market as well. Goodfellow Inc keeps a strategy of “very cautious, very conservative” management and strategy.
“We’ve weathered a lot of ups and downs,” Olivia Goodfellow shared.
According to a July 10 press release, the second quarter and year to date earnings for Goodfellow Inc. look like this:
“The company reported net earnings of $5.3 million or $0.62 per share compared to net earnings of $6.6 million or $0.77 per share a year ago. Consolidated sales for the three months ended May 31, 2024, were $140.3 million compared to $142.3 million last year.
For the six months ended May 31, 2024, the company reported net earnings of $5.2 million or $0.61 per share compared to net earnings of $6.4 million or $0.75 per share a year ago, while consolidated sales were $245.7 million compared to $248.3 million last year.”
Charles City Timber and Mats LLC commenced the process of acquiring AWP mills in Riverton and Kingwood. Company leadership was unavailable for comment last week, but may speak about the acquisition for next week’s edition of the newspaper.
In April, Pennsylvania-based AHF purchased former AWP facilities in Smoot, Greenbrier County and Norton, Randolph County.
