Huttig Q3 profits on the rise
Huttig Building Products, the St. Louis-based distributor of building materials, millwork and wood products, reported third quarter 2019 sales fell 2.8% to $215.7 million compared to third quarter 2018 sales of $222 million.
The company also reported a third quarter net income from continuing operations of $1.6 million, up 33% from a net income from continuing operations of $1.2 million for the same period last year.
Regarding the drop in sales, Huttig attributed the decline to softening in some market segments along with competitive pricing in commodity products.
Millwork product sales decreased 5% in the third quarter to $99.6 million, compared to $104.8 million in the third quarter of 2018. Huttig’s building products sales increased 3.6% in the third quarter to $100.4 million, compared to $96.9 million in the third quarter of 2018 while wood product sales decreased 22.7% to $15.7 million, compared to $20.3 million for the same period a year ago.
Huttig also said its millwork product category was impacted by the temporary disruption from a system upgrade during the quarter.
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The bottom line: Commodity pricing conditions force a slip in sales, but Huttig profits grow in the third quarter.
What the CEO said: “Our sales for the third quarter were slightly below last year’s pace as a result of our continued focus on higher-margin, strategic product categories and our de-emphasis of more commoditized, lower margin categories,” said Jon Vrabely, Huttig president and CEO. “We believe the challenges of our enterprise resource planning system upgrade, which caused some temporary sales erosion in our second and third quarters, are now behind us. Our focus on growing higher margin fastener product sales contributed to our gross margin improvement in the quarter, while our capital and cost management efforts have allowed us to reduce debt by nearly $15 million and improve available liquidity by over $9 million as compared to the prior year period.”
Company info: The full third quarter 2019 report from Huttig Building Products can be read here.
The company also reported a third quarter net income from continuing operations of $1.6 million, up 33% from a net income from continuing operations of $1.2 million for the same period last year.
Regarding the drop in sales, Huttig attributed the decline to softening in some market segments along with competitive pricing in commodity products.Millwork product sales decreased 5% in the third quarter to $99.6 million, compared to $104.8 million in the third quarter of 2018. Huttig’s building products sales increased 3.6% in the third quarter to $100.4 million, compared to $96.9 million in the third quarter of 2018 while wood product sales decreased 22.7% to $15.7 million, compared to $20.3 million for the same period a year ago.
Huttig also said its millwork product category was impacted by the temporary disruption from a system upgrade during the quarter.
###
The bottom line: Commodity pricing conditions force a slip in sales, but Huttig profits grow in the third quarter.
What the CEO said: “Our sales for the third quarter were slightly below last year’s pace as a result of our continued focus on higher-margin, strategic product categories and our de-emphasis of more commoditized, lower margin categories,” said Jon Vrabely, Huttig president and CEO. “We believe the challenges of our enterprise resource planning system upgrade, which caused some temporary sales erosion in our second and third quarters, are now behind us. Our focus on growing higher margin fastener product sales contributed to our gross margin improvement in the quarter, while our capital and cost management efforts have allowed us to reduce debt by nearly $15 million and improve available liquidity by over $9 million as compared to the prior year period.”
Company info: The full third quarter 2019 report from Huttig Building Products can be read here.