EveryWare Global, Inc. unexpectedly shuttered its Anchor Hocking glassware plants in Monaca, Beaver County, and Lancaster, Ohio, on Thursday — hours after its stock plummeted to an all-time low.

A company statement said that it was furloughing “a number of hourly and salaried employees” and planned to reduce existing inventory in an effort to improve its liquidity, with hopes of reopening the facilities in three or four weeks.

EveryWare interim CEO Sam Solomon announced in the statement that the company was in default of the terms of a $250 million loan. If the company cannot negotiate a waiver with lenders by May 25 on a “cure” loan payment it owes of about $18.7 million, lenders could foreclose because the company indicated it did not expect to be able to comply with the loan terms in 2014.

Without “an amendment from our lenders or equity contributions sufficient to utilize the equity ‘cure’ provision in the term loan, the term loan agreement will become subject to acceleration by the lenders,” the company statement said.

“There is therefore substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as (an ongoing) concern,” the statement said.

EveryWare, which manufactures Anchor Hocking and Oneida brand glassware, closed at an all-time low of $1.38 a share Thursday. The company was created from a merger of the two glassware firms in 2012 and joined NASDAQ in 2013 (EVRY). The stock opened at nearly $11 a share and reached a high of more than $13 last September.

The stock has fallen since then, but the plunge has accelerated rapidly over the last several weeks.

EveryWare reported a loss of $38.4 million in the first quarter of 2014, citing higher-than-expected utility expenses because of the long, hard winter and lower production. Revenues fell $4.5 million or 4.5 percent in the first quarter this year. By comparison, in the first quarter of 2013, the firm turned a $200,000 profit.

Operating expenses for the first quarter totaled $26 million — up 26.7 percent from 2013 for the same period. The company statement blames those increases on costs of employee separations and consulting fees.

“While our results over the past several quarters have been disappointing, we are taking actions that we believe will better position us for future growth,” Solomon said in the statment. “…While our initiatives will take time to have an impact on the business, I remain confident in the long-term prospects of this business.”

The shutdown of the Anchor Hocking plant in Monaca occurred about midway through the 3-11 p.m. shift Thursday. Employees were told by plant manager Lloyd Taylor to go home, as their services were no longer needed at the moment. Taylor shook the hands of some departing employees but held over a maintenance crew to secure the plant’s single glass furnace or “tank.”

The more than 300 Workers at the Monaca plant are represented by three different unions, though the bulk are in the finishing department and are represented by United Steelworkers of America.

The Monaca plant produces vodka and wine bottles, vases, candle lids, fish bowls, food canisters, salt and pepper shakers, jars and specialty products like the “boot” mugs used by Texas Roadhouse restaurants.

EveryWare received an $1.8 million investment last year for the Monaca plant through Walmart to manufacture Mainstays Canning Jars for the retail giant as part of its “Made in the USA” initiative. WalMart plans to buy an additional $50 billion in U.S. products over the next 10 years.

The investment paid for a new packaging line at the Monaca plant that loaded the canning jars into a machine-assembled box, fit the jars with plastic rings and lids, then sealed the box with plastic wrapping.

Employees had just recently begun training on the new line when they were stunned by Thursday’s shutdown.

The Lancaster operation is Anchor Hocking’s headquarters and employs some 1,100 workers. That plant had three furnaces, but one caught fire in January — forcing layoffs — and another furnace is operating at reduced capacity due to a leak. The company indicated it planned to extend the shutdown of the downed furnace through at least the end of 2014.

In addition to the Anchor Hocking plants in Monaca and Lancaster, EveryWare owns five other Oneida plants in the U.S. and has plants in Canada, China, England and Mexico.

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