Vancouver, Washington-based welded steel pipe manufacturer Northwest Pipe Company announced Wednesday that sales for the quarter ended September 30, 2010 were $112.8 million compared to $61.4 million in the Q3 of 2009, a 45 percent increase. Net income for Q3 2010 was $0.7 million compared to a net loss of $5.5 million for the Q3 2009.
Sales for Northwest's large diameter pipe product manufacturer, Water Transmission Group, increased to $59.3 million in the Q3 2010 from $47 million in Q3 2009, reflecting increases in both sales volume and selling prices. Water Transmission's gross profit increased to $7.2 million in Q3 2010 from $0.4 million in the comparable quarter last year.
Sales for Northwest's small diameter steel pipe manufacturer, Tubular Products Group, increased to $53.4 million in Q3 2010 from $14.4 million in Q3 2009, reflecting a significant increase in sales volume and a modest increase in selling prices. Tubular Products' gross profit increased to $4.2 million in Q3 2010 from a gross loss of $2.7 million in Q3 2009, as a significant increase in volume improved the recovery of fixed costs resulting in improved gross margin.
"We expect Water Transmission sales to remain stable in the fourth quarter and grow modestly in the first half of 2011 compared to 2010," said Richard A. Roman, President and CEO of Northwest."We expect Tubular Products sales will also be stable in the fourth quarter but we expect sales in the first half of 2011 will be stronger as compared to the first half of 2010 primarily due to the additional capacity brought into production in Bossier City over the course of 2010."