Hampton Machine Tool Company
Hampton Machine Tool Company
On September 14, 1979, Mr. Jerry Eckwood, vice president of the St. Louis National Bank was considering a loan request from a customer located in a nearby city. The company, Hampton Machine Too] Company, had requested renewal of an existing $1 million loan originally due to be repaid on September 30. In addition to the renewal of the existin- loan, Hampton was asking for an additional loan of $350,000 for planned equipment purchases in October. Under the terms of the company's request, both loans, totaling $1.35 million, would be repayable at the end of 1979. Since its establishment in 1915, Hampton Machine Tool Company had successfully weathered the severe cyclical fluctuations characteristic of the macl-tine tool manufacturing business. In the most recent cvcle, Hampton had experienced record production and profitability during the niid- and late 1960s. Because Hampton's major customers included the aircraft manufacturers and automobile manufacturers in the St. Louis area, the company's success in the 1960s reflected a strong automobile market and the heavy defense spending associated with the Vietnam War. Hampton rode the 1960s boom into the early 1970s. Hampton, along with the rest of the capital goods industry, experienced a severe decline in sales and profitability in the rriid-1970s. Precipitous declines in the production of automobiles in St. Louis facilities reflected the Arab oil embargo, subsequent increases in the price of gasoline and the 1974-1975 recession. Massive reductions in defense spending in the post-V'ietnam War period had a severe adverse impact on Hampton's other major customer segment, n-dlitary aircraft manufacturers. Hampton's sales had bottomed out in the n-@d-1970s and the several years prior to 1978 had seen a steady rebuilding of sales. Hampton's recoverv was due primarily to three factors. First, military aircraft sales had increased substantially, reflec@ng both an expan6ing export market
On September 14, 1979, Mr. Jerry Eckwood, vice president of the St. Louis National Bank was considering a loan request from a customer located in a nearby city. The company, Hampton Machine Too] Company, had requested renewal of an existing $1 million loan originally due to be repaid on September 30. In addition to the renewal of the existin- loan, Hampton was asking for an additional loan of $350,000 for planned equipment purchases in October. Under the terms of the company's request, both loans, totaling $1.35 million, would be repayable at the end of 1979. Since its establishment in 1915, Hampton Machine Tool Company had successfully weathered the severe cyclical fluctuations characteristic of the macl-tine tool manufacturing business. In the most recent cvcle, Hampton had experienced record production and profitability during the niid- and late 1960s. Because Hampton's major customers included the aircraft manufacturers and automobile manufacturers in the St. Louis area, the company's success in the 1960s reflected a strong automobile market and the heavy defense spending associated with the Vietnam War. Hampton rode the 1960s boom into the early 1970s. Hampton, along with the rest of the capital goods industry, experienced a severe decline in sales and profitability in the rriid-1970s. Precipitous declines in the production of automobiles in St. Louis facilities reflected the Arab oil embargo, subsequent increases in the price of gasoline and the 1974-1975 recession. Massive reductions in defense spending in the post-V'ietnam War period had a severe adverse impact on Hampton's other major customer segment, n-dlitary aircraft manufacturers. Hampton's sales had bottomed out in the n-@d-1970s and the several years prior to 1978 had seen a steady rebuilding of sales. Hampton's recoverv was due primarily to three factors. First, military aircraft sales had increased substantially, reflec@ng both an expan6ing export market