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(A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of
Imperial Industries, Inc.)
Premix, together with
its predecessors, has been in business for approximately
40 years. The names "Premix" and "Premix-Marbletite"
are among the registered trademarks of Premix. The Company
believes the trade names of its manufactured products
represent a substantial benefit to the Company because
of industry recognition and brand preference. Premix
manufactures stucco, roof tile mortar, plaster and swimming
pool finishes. The products manufactured by Premix basically
are a combination of Portland (or
masonry) cement, sand, lime, marble and a plasticizing
agent and other chemicals, including color-impregnation
materials.
In August 1994, the
Company entered into a five year licensing agreement
with an unaffiliated company to exclusively manufacture
and sell a new roof tile mortar product throughout the
State of Florida and foreign countries. To date, a majority
of all roof tile mortar sales have been derived from
South Florida. Until 1996, the Company's licensed roof
tile mortar product was the only mortar product approved
by Dade County, Florida building authorities for use
to adhere all types of cement roof tiles to roofs. In
1997, the Company's roof tile mortar was approved by
the Broward and Palm Beach County building authorities
along with other competitive products. Other adhesive
products used for similar purposes are also used by
the industry. The Company has expanded its marketing
efforts for this product to other areas of Florida based
on product performance rather than as required by building
code requirements.
The Company's marketing
and sales strategy is to create a profit center
for the products it manufactures, as well as enlarging
its product offering by selling certain complementary
products manufactured by other companies that are part
of wall system applications. The complementary items
are purchased by the Company and held in inventory,
together with manufactured products, for sale to customers.
Generally, sales orders are filled out of existing inventory
within several days of receipt of the order. The total
package sales approach to the new and renovation construction
market is targeted at both the end user of the Company's
products, being primarily the contractor or subcontractor,
and the distributor, principally building materials
dealers who purchase products from the Company and sell
to the end user, and in some instance, to the customers.
A majority of the Company's sales are made directly
by the Company to approximately 250 distributors.
While the Company's sales are typically to distributors,
the Company focuses marketing efforts on the contractor/subcontractor
end user to create a brand preference for the Company's
products. Sales by other distributors as well as direct
sales to end -users contributed to the percentage decline
in sales to the one distributor. The Company primarily
markets its products to distributors through Company
salesmen, who promote both Premix and Acrocrete products,
located in the Southeastern United States.
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