Insteel Industries Reports Fourth Quarter And Fiscal 2013 Financial Results

MOUNT AIRY, N.C., Oct. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Insteel Industries, Inc. (NasdaqGS: IIIN) today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended September 28, 2013.

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Fourth Quarter 2013 Results

Net earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 were $2.3 million, or $0.13 per share compared with $0.8 million, or $0.05 per share in the same period a year ago. Net sales increased 0.3% to $98.2 million from $97.9 million in the prior year period. Shipments increased 4.7% year-over-year while average selling prices decreased 4.2%. On a sequential basis, shipments increased 2.3% from the third quarter of fiscal 2013 while average selling prices decreased 1.0%.

Insteel's fourth-quarter results were favorably impacted by widening spreads between selling prices and raw material costs and higher shipments relative to the same period a year ago. Capacity utilization for the quarter was 50% compared with 48% in the third quarter of fiscal 2013 and the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012.  

Operating activities provided $4.3 million of cash compared with $11.4 million in the prior year period primarily due to the relative changes in net working capital. Net working capital used $2.2 million of cash while providing $8.5 million in the same period a year ago. Capital expenditures were $0.2 million compared with $3.7 million in the prior year period.

Fiscal 2013 Results

Net earnings for fiscal 2013 were $11.7 million, or $0.64 per diluted share compared with $1.8 million, or $0.10 per share in the prior year. The current year results include a $0.3 million charge ($0.01 per share after-tax) for the loss on the disposal of equipment. The prior year results include restructuring charges related to the November 2010 acquisition of certain assets of Ivy Steel & Wire, Inc. and a gain on the early extinguishment of debt, which, in the aggregate, reduced pre-tax earnings by $0.4 million ($0.01 per diluted share after-tax). Net sales increased 0.2% to $363.9 million from $363.3 million a year ago. Shipments increased 4.6% year-over-year while average selling prices decreased 4.3%.

Operating activities provided $36.8 million of cash compared with $13.1 million in the prior year primarily due to the increase in earnings and the relative changes in net working capital. Net working capital provided $9.7 million of cash compared with $0.9 million a year ago. Capital expenditures were $5.0 million compared with $8.1 million in the prior year and are not expected to exceed $12.0 million in fiscal 2014.

Balance Sheet

Insteel ended the year debt-free with $15.4 million of cash and cash equivalents, and no borrowings outstanding on its $100.0 million revolving credit facility.

Outlook

"We are pleased with the start-up of the new engineered structural mesh ("ESM") production line at our North Carolina facility during the quarter, which significantly enhances our manufacturing capabilities," commented H.O. Woltz III, Insteel's president and CEO. "The new line offers unparalleled flexibility, allowing us to produce a broader array of ESM configurations and eliminating the need for costly offline processing for a wide range of products. The start-up of the North Carolina line follows the addition of another new ESM line at our Texas facility earlier in the year, further strengthening our market leadership position.   

"As we move into fiscal 2014, nonresidential construction, our primary demand driver, continues to recover at an exceedingly slow rate from a protracted recession. The most recent forecasts and leading indicators for our construction end-markets point to modest growth gradually improving over the course of the year, which should favorably impact our financial results. We look forward to a more meaningful recovery that allows us to demonstrate the increased earnings power we believe we have developed through the Ivy acquisition and subsequent reconfiguration of our welded wire reinforcement operations."

Conference Call

Insteel will hold a conference call at 10:00 a.m. ET today to discuss its fourth quarter and fiscal 2013 financial results. A live webcast of this call can be accessed on Insteel's website at http://investor.insteel.com/events.cfm and will be archived for replay until the next quarterly conference call.

About Insteel

Insteel is the nation's largest manufacturer of steel wire reinforcing products for concrete construction applications. Insteel manufactures and markets prestressed concrete strand and welded wire reinforcement, including ESM, concrete pipe reinforcement and standard welded wire reinforcement. Insteel's products are sold primarily to manufacturers of concrete products that are used in nonresidential construction. Headquartered in Mount Airy, North Carolina, Insteel operates nine manufacturing facilities located in the United States.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this news release, the words  "believes," "anticipates," "expects," "estimates," "plans," "intends," "may," "should" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.  Although Insteel believes that its plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, and Insteel can provide no assurances that such plans, intentions or expectations will be achieved. Many of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in detail in Insteel's periodic and other reports and statements that it files with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), in particular in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 29, 2012. You should carefully review these risks and uncertainties.

All forward-looking statements attributable to Insteel or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. All forward-looking statements speak only to the respective dates on which such statements are made and Insteel does not undertake and specifically declines any obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect any future events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events, except as may be required by law.

It is not possible to anticipate and list all risks and uncertainties that may affect Insteel's future operations or financial performance; however, they include, but are not limited to, the following: general economic and competitive conditions in the markets in which Insteel operates; credit market conditions and the relative availability of financing for Insteel, its customers and the construction industry as a whole; the continuation of reduced spending for nonresidential and residential construction and the impact on demand for Insteel's products; changes in the amount and duration of transportation funding provided by federal, state and local governments and the impact on spending for infrastructure construction and demand for Insteel's products; the cyclical nature of the steel and building material industries; fluctuations in the cost and availability of Insteel's primary raw material, hot-rolled steel wire rod, from domestic and foreign suppliers; competitive pricing pressures and Insteel's ability to raise selling prices in order to recover increases in wire rod costs; changes in United States or foreign trade policy affecting imports or exports of steel wire rod or Insteel's products; unanticipated changes in customer demand, order patterns and inventory levels; the impact of weak demand and reduced capacity utilization levels on Insteel's unit manufacturing costs; Insteel's ability to further develop the market for ESM and expand its shipments of ESM; legal, environmental, economic or regulatory developments that significantly impact Insteel's operating costs; unanticipated plant outages, equipment failures or labor difficulties; continued escalation in certain of Insteel's operating costs; and the other risks and uncertainties discussed in Insteel's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 29, 2012 and in other filings made by Insteel with the SEC.

SOURCE Insteel Industries, Inc.