Leggett & Platt Industrial Materials total sales perk up
25 Jan '08
3 min read
"Several markets remain soft as we enter 2008, with no visible catalyst to appreciably alter demand in the next few quarters. We are focused on creating long-term value by implementing our strategic plan, and those efforts should benefit our shareholders even as economic and market conditions remain challenging.
"As announced in November, we adopted total shareholder return (TSR(1)) as our primary strategic objective, and expect to achieve 12-15% annual TSR over the long term. We aim to generate TSR, in roughly equal amounts, from three different sources: earnings growth, dividend yield, and share repurchases. We expect this more balanced, three-pronged TSR strategy to generate higher returns at considerably lower risk.
"We have adopted role-based portfolio management, with different roles for each business unit (BU) based upon competitive advantages, strategic position, and financial health. We have begun implementing a much more rigorous strategic planning process, in part to continually assess each BU's role in the portfolio.
"Businesses that remain in the portfolio need to generate returns in excess of the company's cost of capital. Though most of our BU's are generating adequate returns, each has opportunities to improve.
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.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "UBM China (Shanghai)")
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
