Description of Business and Organization

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Description of Business and Organization

Description of Business and Organization

1. Description of Business and Organization

        Headwaters Incorporated (Headwaters) is a building products company incorporated in Delaware, providing products and services in the light and heavy building materials sectors. Headwaters' vision is to improve lives through innovative advancements in construction materials.

        The light 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 and concrete block. Headwaters believes that many of its branded products have a leading market position. Revenues from Headwaters' light building products businesses are diversified geographically and also by market, including the new housing and residential repair and remodeling markets, as well as commercial construction markets.

        The heavy construction materials segment is the nationwide leader in the management and marketing of coal combustion products (CCPs), including fly ash which is primarily used as a partial replacement for portland cement in concrete. Headwaters' heavy construction materials business is comprised of a nationwide storage and distribution network. We also provide services to electric utilities related to the management of CCPs. Revenue is diversified geographically and by market.

        The energy technology segment has been focused on reducing waste and increasing the value of energy-related feedstocks, primarily in the areas of low-value coal and oil. In coal, Headwaters owns and operates 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 4, Headwaters is disposing of all its coal cleaning facilities and they are reflected as assets held for sale in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. The results of Headwaters' coal cleaning operations have been presented as discontinued operations for all periods presented. In oil, Headwaters believes that its heavy oil upgrading technology represents a substantial improvement over current refining technologies. Headwaters' heavy oil upgrading process uses a liquid catalyst precursor to generate a highly active molecular catalyst to convert low-value residual oil from refining into higher-value distillates that can be further refined into gasoline, diesel and other products.

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