Boucherville, Quebec-based structural steel fabricator Canam Group announced Thursday net earnings of $9.7 million in Q3 2011, a major improvement compared to a $5.8 million loss in Q2 and net income of $2.4 million in Q3 2010. Higher sales of $225.6 million, up 8.9 percent over Q3 2010, drove the higher earnings in Q3, although for the first nine months of 2011, Canam Group incurred a net loss of $35.8 million, as a result of the Q2 loss and a $39.7 million loss in Q1 of this year.
Higher Q3 net income was driven by Canam's joist and steel deck activities, and the company's President and COO Marc Dutil commented that the North American non-residential construction market remained highly competitive.