Decline in business has MPD retirees upset
"All but one of our businesses have been underperforming,"
And that caused MPD to only be able to pay a third of what it had planned to pay members of its Employee Stock Ownership Plan at the end of 2018.
That has retirees concerned,
His duties included overseeing the ESOP.
There are currently more than 400 participants in the retirement plan.
"We have more retirees than current workers," Braswell said.
He said MPD currently has 339 employees around the world.
A total of 267 of them are in
Schaut said, "Employees earn shares each year as the company pays off the initial loan required to establish the ESOP and acquire the shares from the previous owners. The earned shares are held in individual accounts for participants by a trustee --
The company pays the retirees the money owed them over a five-year period after their retirement, Braswell said.
The amount of stock allocated to an employee each year is based on the employee's income.
If an employee has
"But this year," Schaut said, "the company is only paying a third of what is owed."
Braswell said MPD plans to pay the other two-thirds of what is owed as soon as it can.
"It is very, very important to me that they get their money," he said.
MPD was created in 1987, when a group of investors bought
The ESOP was created 10 years later.
"Back then, 80 to 85 percent of our business was defense work," Braswell said. "Today, that's about 15 percent."
Today, three-fourths of the business is with law enforcement, he said.
That includes things like radar equipment, breath-alcohol testing equipment and in-car video and body cam equipment.
Cities, counties and states aren't spending as much on law enforcement as they were a few years ago, Braswell said.
MPD-owned
It was the most successful of MPD's holdings last year, Braswell said.
He said MPD offers three retirement programs -- a defined benefits pension to people who joined the company before that program was frozen, a 401(k) program and the ESOP.
Schaut said, "When MPD acquired
Braswell said MPD is not for sale and there are no plans to sell the employee-owned business.
The inability to pay the full amount owed to ESOP members will be corrected as soon as business improves, he said.
Schaut said, "The value of MPD's stock has fallen nearly 25 percent over the past two years due to the company's poor financial performance."
"Our stock is down from two years ago," Braswell said. "But it's still doing better since the ESOP was started than the S&P 500."
Schaut said the retirees are "prepared to take their efforts to the
MPD's companies include several subsidiaries, according to its website --
The company also has employees in
According to the company's website, it received the Group Excellence Award by
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