Business
Taiga Building Products Ltd. - Continued Net Earnings Improvement Due To Increased Efficiencies
Taiga Building Products Ltd. - Continued Net Earnings Improvement Due To Increased Efficiencies
About this update from Taiga Building Products Ltd.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nFeb. 9, 2010 (Canada NewsWire Group) -- BURNABY, BC, Feb. 9 /CNW/ -- Taiga Building Products Ltd. (\"Taiga\" or the \"Company\") is pleased to announce its results for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2009.Results from Operations - Three Months Ended December 31, 2009Net earnings for the quarter were $0.9 million or $0.03 per share compared to a loss of $2.6 million or a loss of $0.08 per share for the comparative quarter in the previous year. Sales weakness was more than offset by reduced selling and admin costs. Management continued its operating cost reduction program, and the Company benefitted from low interest expense.Sales declined at a reduced pace of 5.9% from $213.8 million in the third quarter of the prior fiscal year to $201.1 in the third quarter current year. The decline was due to reduced levels of new home construction.Gross margin dollars increased to $20.8 million from $18.8 million for the third quarter year over year. Gross margin percentage for the quarter increased to 10.3% from 8.8%.EBITDA for the three months ended December 31, 2009 was $7.4 million compared to $3.0 million in the same quarter of the prior year.Results from Operations - Nine Months Ended December 31, 2009Net earnings were $10.9 million or $0.34 per share compared to $4.7 million or $0.15 per share for the comparative period. Earnings improvements were attributable to continuation of cost reduction programs, foreign exchange gains, and lower interest expense.Sales were reduced by 14.4% to $708.4 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2009 compared to $827.2 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2008, primarily due to declining demand in new home construction.Gross margin dollars decreased to $76.2 million from $83.0 million or approximately 8.2%, for the nine months ended December 31, 2009 from the same period last year. Gross margin percentage for the period increased to 10.8% from 10.0% in the same period of the prior fiscal year.The increase in gross margin percentage was attributable to commodity product trading gains and reduced purchasing costs aided by a stronger Canadian dollar.EBITDA for the nine months ended December 31, 2009 was $33.3 million compared to $29.6 million in the same period of the prior year.On January 13, 2010, the Company announced that it will resume the monthly interest payme...