Castle A M & Co (CAS) saw its loss narrow to $19.99 million, or $0.62 a share for the quarter ended Sep. 30, 2016. In the previous year period, the company reported a loss of $27.82 million, or $1.18 a share. On an adjusted basis, net loss for the quarter was $22.85 million, when compared with $22.28 million in the last year period.
Revenue during the quarter dropped 17.05 percent to $124.89 million from $150.57 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 259 basis points over the previous year period to 26.01 percent. Operating margin for the quarter stood at negative 6.93 percent as compared to a negative 10.30 percent for the previous year period.
Operating loss for the quarter was $8.65 million, compared with an operating loss of $15.52 million in the previous year period.
President and chief executive officer Steve Scheinkman commented, "Although we experienced the normal industry slowdown during the summer months, our transformation continued to take hold as we achieved our third sequential quarter of EBITDA improvement. While our sales tons per day decreased by 6.0% compared to the previous quarter, our financial performance improved as we were able to increase our gross margins to align with Castle's traditional margins in more stable markets even in this historically low commodity price environment. We also increased our margin per ton by 6.2% while at the same time reducing our operating expenses. We experienced a greater decline in volume in the United States and Canada than reported by the MSCI for the industry; however, our foreign subsidiaries performed above the MSCI rate."
Operating cash flow remains negativeCastle A M & Co has spent $17.59 million cash to meet operating activities during the nine month period as against cash outgo of $6.41 million in the last year period. Cash flow from investing activities was $85.52 million for the nine month period, up 3,540.61 percent or $83.17 million, when compared with the last year period.
The company has spent $68.73 million cash to carry out financing activities during the nine month period as against cash inflow of $8 million in the last year period.
Cash and cash equivalents stood at $10 million as on Sep. 30, 2016, down 16.43 percent or $1.97 million from $11.97 million on Sep. 30, 2015.
Working capital declines
Castle A M & Co has witnessed a decline in the working capital over the last year. It stood at $188.58 million as at Sep. 30, 2016, down 12.12 percent or $26.01 million from $214.59 million on Sep. 30, 2015. Current ratio was at 3.07 as on Sep. 30, 2016, up from 2.82 on Sep. 30, 2015.
Cash conversion cycle (CCC) has decreased to 105 days for the quarter from 175 days for the last year period. Days sales outstanding went up to 72 days for the quarter compared with 70 days for the same period last year.
Days inventory outstanding has decreased to 89 days for the quarter compared with 158 days for the previous year period. At the same time, days payable outstanding went up to 56 days for the quarter from 53 for the same period last year.
Debt comes down significantlyCastle A M & Co has recorded a decline in total debt over the last one year. It stood at $235.60 million as on Sep. 30, 2016, down 27 percent or $87.13 million from $322.73 million on Sep. 30, 2015. Total debt was 66.47 percent of total assets as on Sep. 30, 2016, compared with 62.43 percent on Sep. 30, 2015. Disclaimer: Please note that this is an auto-generated article. IRIS does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. IRIS especially states that it has no financial liability whatsoever to any user on account of the use of information provided on its website. For queries contact: editor@irisindia.net
