Vancouver, Washington, US-based welded steel pipe producer Northwest Pipe Company (Northwest Pipe) has announced the preliminary estimates for its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009.
The company has also said that it has delayed the filing of its quarterly report for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, pending the conclusion of an ongoing internal investigation of certain accounting matters.
Until the completion of the investigation and of the additional accounting work, its financial results are preliminary and subject to change, said Northwest Pipe in its announcement.
Accordingly, the company's preliminary estimate of net sales for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009 is approximately $67 million compared to net sales of $123.4 million previously reported for the third quarter of 2008. The company's preliminary estimate of net income for the third quarter of 2009 is a net loss of approximately $1 million compared to net income previously reported for the third quarter of 2008 of $10.2 million.
Commenting on the results, Northwest Pipe said, "Revenues and earnings declined largely due to volume decreases across the company's product lines, with further negative impacts caused by reduced pricing and a less favorable product mix."
"As noted above, our third quarter results have not been finalized. In the meantime, as we look ahead to the fourth quarter and to next year, we see mixed signals. Our backlog at the end of the third quarter was approximately $125 million, down from $190 million three months ago. Over $30 million of this decline was due to the previously announced cancellation of the USEC project. However, we still had a difficult quarter in the market. Many jobs were postponed, but we also booked orders at less than our usual rate. Our operations in the fourth quarter will continue to be challenging. We expect continued, incremental improvement in tubular product margins, and water transmission results are expected to be similar to third quarter results. We do expect an improved bidding environment and stronger bookings in the fourth quarter," said Brian W. Dunham, president and CEO of Northwest Pipe.