BLDR reflects on Q4 progress and a year of expansion

Builders FirstSource, Inc. made some measurable progress in sales during the fourth quarter, but the company also had growth of a slightly more qualitative nature to reflect on for fiscal 2014.

This includes a number of acquisitions (such as its purchase of Trim Tech of Austin and Empire Truss, Ltd.) and the opening of a new distribution facility in the north Houston area.

"Though the level of new construction activity was not what we expected in 2014, we were still able to deliver profitable top-line growth while also expanding our product offerings and customer base via multiple acquisitions within very attractive housing markets," said CEO Floyd Sherman.

Net sales for the three months ended Dec. 31 increased 7.5% to $396.7 million. Without the impact of the recent acquisitions, sales were up 3.0%.

Builders FirstSource also pulled in net income of $2.4 million for the quarter, down from $4.5 million during the fourth quarter of 2013.

Adjusted EBITDA came in at $17.7 million, up from $16.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2013.

For the full fiscal year, sales came in at $1.6 billion, up 7.7% year-over-year. The acquisitions helped carry the progress over the full year as well, with full-year sales up 5.8% without the impact of the transactions.

The company also managed to swing to a profit in 2014, with income of $18.2 million well ahead of 2013's $42.7 million loss.

From COO and CFO Chad Crow's perspective, gross margin was also a major growth area.

"We produced another solid quarter of gross margin expansion, ending the fourth quarter of 2014 with a gross margin of 22.8%," he said. "Increasing our gross margins as we continued to grow our top-line was a focal point for us this year, and I'm very pleased to say we improved our margin percentage sequentially each quarter of 2014, resulting in an 80 basis point increase year-over-year. Our cash provided by operating activities increased $26.6 million for fiscal year 2014 when compared to 2013, excluding the $48.4 million of non-recurring interest charges related to our 2013 refinancing."