Insteel Industries, Inc. announced financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended October 1, 2016, reporting an increase in net earnings to $9.9 million from $9.6 million in the same period a year ago.
Insteel's fourth-quarter results were favorably impacted by widening spreads between selling prices and raw material costs relative to the prior year quarter, which offset lower shipments and higher conversion costs. Net sales decreased 12.7 percent to $103.1 million from $118.1 million in the prior year quarter, reflecting an 8.8 percent decrease in shipments and a 4.3 percent decrease in average selling prices. Shipments decreased 15.0 percent sequentially from the third quarter of fiscal 2016 while average selling prices increased 4.9 percent.
Net earnings for fiscal 2016 increased to $37.2 million from $21.7 million in the prior year. Insteel's fiscal 2016 results were favorably impacted by widening spreads between selling prices and raw material costs relative to the prior year and, to a lesser extent, higher shipments and lower conversion costs.
Net sales decreased 6.5 percent to $418.5 million from $447.5 million in the prior year, reflecting a 2.6 percent increase in shipments offset by an 8.8 percent decrease in average selling prices.
"As we move into fiscal 2017, it is unclear whether the softening in shipments we experienced during the fourth fiscal quarter represents a temporary lull or will persist," commented H.O. Woltz III, Insteel's president and CEO. "Although recent macro indicators for our construction end-markets have been mixed, customer sentiment remains positive and we expect demand for our products will be favorably impacted by the FAST Act together with increased infrastructure spending at the state and local level.
"The expansion of our Houston PC strand facility remains on track to begin start-up activities before the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2017. The investments we are making realign the plant's capacity with the requirements of the Texas market and should position it to achieve costs that are comparable to our other strand facilities.