Description of Business and Organization

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Description of Business and Organization

Description of Business and Organization

1. Description of Business and Organization

Headwaters Incorporated (Headwaters) is a building materials company incorporated in Delaware, providing products and services in two core business segments.

The building products segment designs, manufactures, and sells a wide variety of building products, including exterior vinyl siding accessories (such as shutters, mounting blocks, and vents), manufactured architectural stone, roofing materials, concrete block and windows. Revenues from Headwaters’ building products businesses are diversified geographically and also by end use, including new housing construction and residential repair and remodeling, as well as commercial construction.

The construction materials segment is the nationwide leader in the management and marketing of coal combustion products (CCPs), including fly ash, which is primarily sold directly to concrete manufacturers who use it as a mineral admixture for the partial replacement of portland cement in concrete, and synthetic gypsum. Headwaters’ CCPs business is comprised of a nationwide supply, storage and distribution network. Headwaters also provides services to electric utilities related to the management of CCPs.

In addition to the two building materials segments described above, Headwaters also has a non‑core energy technology segment which has been focused on reducing waste and increasing the value of energy‑related feedstocks, primarily in the areas of low‑value oil and coal. In oil, Headwaters’ heavy oil upgrading process uses a liquid catalyst precursor to generate a highly active molecular catalyst to convert low‑value residual oil into higher‑value distillates that can be further refined into gasoline, diesel and other products. In coal, Headwaters owned and operated coal cleaning facilities that separate ash from waste coal to provide a refined coal product that is higher in Btu value and lower in impurities than the feedstock coal. As described in Note 13, Headwaters disposed of its remaining coal cleaning facilities in January 2013 and the results of Headwaters’ coal cleaning operations have been presented as discontinued operations for all periods.

Headwaters’ fiscal year ends on September 30 and unless otherwise noted, references to years refer to Headwaters’ fiscal year rather than a calendar year.