Teamsters: Willbros' Investors Call For Sale Of Oil & Gas Business; Launch Watchdog Website

News provided by

International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Apr 10, 2015, 04:41 ET

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Brotherhood of Teamsters have joined with other investors of Willbros Group [NYSE: WG] to demand swift and drastic actions by Willbros' board of directors including the sale of its Oil and Gas segment. Willbros stock price has dropped 73 percent over the past year, hitting a record low of $1.50 in recent weeks.

"Willbros' Oil and Gas Division has been mismanaged, understaffed and unprofitable for years," said Ken Hall, General Secretary-Treasurer of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. "Short term fixes won't help this company. It's time to cut losses and focus on strategies that promote profitability and growth."

Willbros continues to reel from the company's announcement in October last year of $22-$24 million in losses on an Ohio pipeline project which wiped out 65 percent of the company's total operating income and forced the company to restate its 2014 second quarter earnings.

Problems in the oil and gas division have continued to plague the company. An operating loss of $11.9 million in the division propelled Willbros as a whole to report an operating loss of $15.1 million in its most recent fiscal quarter which ended Dec. 31, 2014. The company faces shareholder litigation related to the losses.

Willbros' new CEO has acknowledged to investors that its oil and gas segment had been "spread too thin" and experienced, "too much growth to manage effectively as needed."

"Willbros' Oil and Gas division has been a drain on the company and a drag on its stock price," Hall said. "It's time to get out."

Visit www.WillbrosWatch.org for more information about Willbros including breaking news and analysis. A March 2015 investors' report provides a deeper look into the company's lackluster stock performance, weak margins, and mismanagement.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.

Contact:
Galen Munroe (202) 624-6911
[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100127/IBTLOGO

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters