Exhibit 99.1
NEWS BULLETIN
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
At the company:
Bruce P. Erdel
Vice President - Finance
(417) 890-0102
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2000
SPRINGFIELD, Mo., August 23, 2000 - DT Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: DTII)
announced today that, in the finalization of its audit of the company's
financial results for the fiscal year ended June 25, 2000,
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company's independent auditors, requested additional
time in order to continue to investigate an overstatement of certain asset
accounts at Kalish Inc., the company's wholly-owned subsidiary headquartered in
Montreal Canada. The company believes that the problems are limited to Kalish.
Working diligently with PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company is attempting to
determine the impact of any discrepancies on its fiscal year 2000 financial
results and on the results of any prior reporting periods. The discrepancies are
likely to be material and could impact previously reported earnings for the
1997, 1998 and 1999 fiscal years, and for the fiscal quarters during those years
and during fiscal year 2000. As a result, the company does not expect to release
its financial statements for the fiscal year just ended until the amounts have
been quantified and any necessary restatements have been made. Pending
completion of the audit, the company warned its fiscal 1997, 1998 and 1999
financial statements should not be relied upon.
The Board of Directors of the company has authorized the Audit and Finance
Committee to take all appropriate action to identify the causes of these
discrepancies and to make appropriate recommendations to ensure that similar
issues do not recur in the future.
Pending the analysis of these discrepancies and their cause, the senior
financial officer of Kalish has been placed on administrative leave. For the
time being, all financial matters pertaining to Kalish will be handled by the
company's Internal Audit Department.
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DT Industries, Inc.
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In other matters, the company made two additional announcements:
o Several months ago, the company's Board of Directors began to explore
various alternatives available to the company aimed at reducing the
company's leverage and repaying a portion or all of its borrowings under
its Senior Revolving Credit Facility, with the objective of enhancing
shareholder value. On August 11, 2000, the Board of Directors approved the
retention of the investment banking firm of Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Company,
LP to assist it in looking at various alternatives with particular emphasis
on the possible divestiture of one or more business units. Brown, Gibbons,
Lang & Company, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, serves as a financial
advisor to middle market companies with expertise in assisting companies to
divest properties that do not fit their strategic plans over the
longer-term.
o Still further, the company announced that Bruce P. Erdel - Senior Vice
President, Finance and Administration - has resigned his position. Mr.
Erdel will remain with the company to assist it and the Audit and Finance
Committee in resolving the matters at Kalish and in effecting a meaningful
transition in the responsibilities of his current position. The Board of
Directors has appointed Mr. Wayne W. Schultz to succeed Mr. Erdel on an
interim basis until a search can be completed for a permanent replacement.
Mr. Schultz, Vice President of Administration for the company's Automation
Group, is a Certified Public Accountant and holds bachelor's degrees from
Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan, as well as a
master's degree in Finance from Walsh College. Mr. Schultz has been with
the company for 13 years. He will assume his expanded responsibilities
immediately.
DT Industries, Inc. is a leading designer, manufacturer and integrator of
automated production systems used to assemble, test or package industrial and
consumer products. The company also produces precision metal components, tools
and dies for a broad range of industrial applications.
Certain statements included herein that are not historical statements about the
company's expectations or beliefs, are forward-looking statements. The company's
actual results for current or future periods could differ materially from the
expected results because of a variety of factors, including the results of the
investigation into the discrepancies described herein, economic downturns in
industries served, delays or cancellations of customer orders, delays in
shipping dates of products, cost overruns on certain projects, excess product
warranty expenses, collectability of past due customer receivables, changes in
interest rates, increased inflation, currency exchange fluctuations and other
factors described in the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission.
