Insteel Industries, Inc. today announced financial results for its third quarter ended July 1, 2017. Net earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2017 decreased to $6.9 million from $13.5 million in the same period a year ago. Insteel said its results were unfavorably impacted by lower shipment and production volumes together with narrower spreads between selling prices and raw material costs relative to the prior year quarter.
Net sales decreased 16.2 percent to $96.9 million from $115.6 million in the prior year quarter, reflecting a 20.8 percent decrease in shipments and a 5.9 percent increase in average selling prices. Shipments decreased 7.5 percent sequentially from the second quarter of fiscal 2017 while average selling prices increased 3.5 percent.
"As we move into the fourth fiscal quarter, the leading indicators for nonresidential construction remain positive and our customers are optimistic that business conditions will improve over the remainder of the year," commented H.O. Woltz III, Insteel's president and CEO. "We believe the recent increases in infrastructure funding that have been authorized at the state and local level will begin to favorably impact demand for our products later in the year. We also expect improved manufacturing costs driven by higher operating volumes together with our process improvement initiatives and the recent upgrading and expansion of our Houston PC strand facility."