Earnings up in fiscal Q3, down year-to-date for Insteel Industries

Mount Airy, North Carolina-based wire producer Insteel Industries reported Thursday that net earnings rose $2.1 million year-on-year to $3.7 million in fiscal Q3 2011. However, for the first nine months of fiscal 2011, Insteel incurred a net loss of $1.4 million compared with net earnings of $2.1 million in the same period last year. Insteel's November 2010 acquisition of Ivy Steel and Wire contributed to the year-to-date loss, having the net effect of reducing earnings by $11.6 million.

Year-over-year, fiscal Q3 net sales were up 59.1 percent to $98.6 million, due to the addition of Ivy's assets and higher average selling prices. Shipments in fiscal Q3 were also up 41.9 percent, and average selling prices climbed 12.1 percent. Average selling prices were also up 5.5 percent from fiscal Q2 2011. Insteel's capacity utilization for fiscal Q3 was 48 percent compared with 46 percent in the second quarter of fiscal 2011 and 52 percent in the third quarter of fiscal 2010.

Insteel achieved higher earnings in fiscal Q3 2011 despite what the company said has been depressed levels of demand for the company's products due to ongoing weakness in the construction sector. Looking ahead to fiscal Q4, H.O. Woltz III, Insteel's president and CEO said, "As we head into the second half of the calendar year, we expect demand in our construction end-markets to remain at depressed levels pending a sustained recovery in the private sector and increased availability of credit for project financing."