Thank you SOBLUE for PM'ING THIS ARTICLE EXCERPT ON BRUCE BARRON! Excerpt from funding universe.com regarding the history of the triumph group:
Taking Off in the Mid-1990s
The commercial aviation business took off in the mid-1990s. Annual sales increased from $200 million to $300 million in just three years. Ill projected reaching the $500 million mark by 1999. The group posted a profit of $9.7 million in 1996. This was fueled by unprecedented demand for airline capacity. Boeing was making more than forty jets a month to try to satisfy a record backlog. Pressure to keep production resulted in Boeing both using more outsourcing and reducing its number of suppliers.
Triumph had about 1,500 employees and annual sales of more than $300 million. Just nine people worked at corporate headquarters, however, due to the group's highly decentralized approach. Seven of the companies were involved in specialty metal products; the other six, aviation. The latter group supplied original equipment manufacturers and overhauled and repaired commercial aircraft.
In the mid-1990s, the aviation businesses accounted for two-thirds of Triumph's annual revenues. Corporate managers invested heavily in acquiring new companies for the profitable aviation division. They aimed to increase profit by 20 percent a year, half of this by acquisition. The new companies generally extended Triumph's technical expertise or product lines, making the group more compelling when bidding for large contracts. The purchases also tended to extend its customer base. The group generally left the managers of the acquired companies to their own devices, and was known for not raiding assets or laying off workers. Acquisitions included Air Lab, a Seattle company specializing in cockpit repairs, purchased in the fall of 1995. The Teleflex Inc. controls business was bought in January 1996 and renamed Triumph Controls. It had annual sales of $35 million and 150 workers. Another range-extending acquisition was K-T Corp., which formed aluminum fuselage panels for Boeing 777s.
Divestitures were also used to focus the group. Triumph's largest holding, Quality Park Products Inc., in St. Paul, Minnesota, made envelopes. The company had brought in $100 million in revenues but was decidedly out of step with the group's aviation-centered growth strategy. It was sold in March 1996 for $27.4 million. Although profitable, Triumph was highly leveraged and needed more cash to expand. A public offering in October 1996 raised more than $50 million.
The group announced it was selling its Air Lab Division to the American subsidiary of Sextant Avionique S.A. in July 1997. Triumph's A. Biederman instrument subsidiary simultaneously entered into a five-year agreement to service and market the French company's products. The Air Lab acquisition extended Sextant Avionique's U.S. franchise into nearly all areas of its product line. Triumph bought Hydro-Mill Co., a California aircraft part manufacturing and repair business, in September 1997. This added about $30 million a year to Triumph's net sales and broadened its product line. Hydro-Mill had lacked the capital to make the necessary upgrades to win orders from Boeing.
