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| November 9,
2007
Three dozen jobs
leaving Goffstown
Footmaxx
sale means jobs will move to Virginia
By STEPHEN BEALE
Union
Leader Correspondent
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GOFFSTOWN - A Toronto-based manufacturer and
distributor of orthotics -- with a manufacturing plant
on Lance Lane -- has been sold for $17.4 million to Foot
Levelers Inc., a Virginia company that makes similar
products.
The sale of Footmaxx Inc. affects approximately three
dozen workers at the Goffstown location at 11 Lance
Lane, whose jobs will be moved to Virginia. The sale was
listed on TSX Venture Exchange, a stock exchange for
small and start-up companies in the Toronto area. The
purchase price of $16.3 million Canadian is roughly
equivalent to $17.4 million in U.S. currency.
The transaction, effective Nov. 1, affects a total of
123 employees of Footmaxx, according to Reuters news
service. Jennifer Faulkner, a public relations official
at Foot Levelers, said some jobs from the Toronto
offices would also be transferred to Roanoke, Va., where
the company is based.
Both companies make orthotics devices for feet, which
alleviate orthopedic problems.
Company officials said Foot Levelers is working out a
plan to close the Goffstown plant over the next year,
and is offering its New Hampshire employees relocation
packages and incentives.
Foot Levelers, a 55-year-old company, also said it will
work with employees and Granite State employment
officials to assist Footmaxx workers with job retraining
and transition, should they decide the leave the
company.
While both companies make orthotics, they use different
technologies in the process. Footmaxx orthotics are
semi-rigid while the devices made by Foot Levelers,
known as spinal pelvic stabilizers, are more flexible.
The Foot Leveler product is also distinctive because it
supports all three arches of the foot. The company is
the world's largest manufacturer of orthotics, Faulkner
said.
"There is so much potential to blending the
technology that they have and we have, and we feel that
it will fuel growth across the health-care
industry," Faulkner said.
The company said the two brands will remain separate.
Kent S. Greenawalt, president and CEO of Foot Levelers
Inc. and Footmaxx, said the combination of the companies
will "lead the way into a new era of technology,
combining Footmaxx's diagnostic expertise with Foot
Levelers' digital technologies to craft orthotics for
postural support."
New
Hampshire Union Leader Staff Reporter Benjamin Kepple
contributed to this article.
Reproduced by the Goffstown
Residents Association.
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