Huttig posts Q4 loss

"The housing market continued to show modest improvement in 2014 though the single family segment growth was not as robust as many had anticipated," said Jon Vrabely, Huttig's President and CEO. "We were pleased that our revenue growth outpaced the market as we executed on our strategic growth initiatives, including the introduction of new products in our building materials business.“

The company reported fourth-quarter net sales of $145.2 million, up from $134.8 million in the same quarter last year. Net loss in the quarter ended Dec. 31 of $0.5 million compares to a net loss of $0.4 million in the year-ago quarter.

“We continued to reinvest in our people, technology platform, and growth initiatives in 2014,” said Vrabely. “However, as a result of a softer than anticipated market, some of these investments had a short-term dilutive effect on our earnings. While we may have been ahead of the market from an investment perspective in 2014, we believe these investments will enhance our ability to generate profitable sales growth as the residential construction market continues to improve.”

For the full year, Huttig’s sales increased 11% to $623.7 million. Net income for the full year was $2.2 million, down from $3.2 million in the same quarter last year.