Cruiser Capital Sends Letter to American Vanguard Stockholders

Cruiser Capital Master Fund LP and its affiliates (“Cruiser Capital,” or “Cruiser”), a top ten shareholder of American Vanguard Corporation (NYSE: AVD) (“American Vanguard,” “AVD” or the “Company”), owning approximately 2.5% of AVD’s outstanding shares, today sent the following letter to AVD stockholders in connection to its nomination of three highly qualified candidates, Mark Bassett, Pat Gottschalk and Keith Rosenbloom to the AVD Board of Directors (the “Board”) at the June 1, 2022, Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “2022 Annual Meeting”).

Dear Fellow AVD Stockholders,

You have an important decision to make about the future of American Vanguard (“American Vanguard,” “AVD” or the “Company”) at the upcoming Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “2022 Annual Meeting”) on June 1, 2022. For the first time you as a shareholder are given a choice as to how to improve AVD.

You can vote to elevate American Vanguard by electing Cruiser’s independent nominees Mark Bassett, Pat Gottschalk and Keith Rosenbloom to bring new perspectives and much-needed operational and corporate governance expertise to the Board of Directors (the “Board”), or you can vote for the status quo of a stagnant stock price and chronic underperformance overseen by the current Board.

We urge stockholders to vote on the BLUE proxy card for Cruiser’s director nominees today.

A STAGNANT STOCK PRICE AND EBITDA MARGINS IN DECLINE

American Vanguard’s Board and management have had plenty of time to reverse the trend of underperformance, but the fact remains – AVD’s stock price is lower than it was a decade ago and essentially the same price as it was in October 2017, June 2018 and March 2021.

AVD’s total shareholder returns have also been disappointing – underperforming every relevant benchmark and peers. Investors have seen no upside to owning AVD stock and the Board’s lack of oversight and weak corporate governance has allowed this value destruction to continue.

American Vanguard’s profitability has also struggled. From 2011 through 2021, revenue grew from $301.1 million to $556.9 million while absolute profits stayed the same. Costs have continued to rise, yet the Company is seemingly unable to deliver even basic synergies from the $250 million in acquisitions made over the last eight years. These operational failures have directly impacted AVD’s ability to deliver value for stockholders.