Houston Wire & Cable Company (HWCC) saw its loss widen to $1.83 million, or $0.11 a share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2016. In the previous year period, the company reported a loss of $0.20 million, or $0.01 a share. On an adjusted basis, net loss for the quarter stood at $1.18 million, or $0.08 a share compared with a net profit of $0.43 million, or $0.03 a share in the last year period. Revenue during the quarter went down marginally by 1.50 percent to $69.26 million from $70.31 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 26 basis points over the previous year period to 21.77 percent. Operating margin for the quarter stood at negative 2.35 percent as compared to a positive 1.06 percent for the previous year period.
Operating loss for the quarter was $1.63 million, compared with an operating income of $0.74 million in the previous year period.
Jim Pokluda, President and Chief Executive Officer commented, “During the quarter, industrial market conditions including the oil and gas industry remained inconsistent. Daily sales results were quite choppy as we experienced several days of strong activity, followed by others that were disappointing. Although such inconsistent results are frustrating, in our experience this type of deviation is usually an early sign of market recovery which is encouraging. Sales decreased 1.5% from the fourth quarter of 2015, but increased 1% over 2015, when adjusted for the impact of metals and increased 6.2% sequentially. Excluding the $7.0 million of sales by Vertex, we estimate that Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) sales increased 7% or approximately 9% on a metals adjusted basis, while project sales decreased 51% or approximately 49% on a metals adjusted basis."
Operating cash flow drops significantly
Houston Wire & Cable Company has generated cash of $17.24 million from operating activities during the year, down 45.83 percent or $14.59 million, when compared with the last year. The company has spent $33.68 million cash to meet investing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $3.12 million in the last year. It has incurred net capital expenditure of $1.31 million on net basis during the year, down 57.82 percent or $1.80 million from year ago.
Cash flow from financing activities was $16.44 million for the year as against cash outgo of $28.71 million in the last year period.
Working capital decreases marginally
Houston Wire & Cable Company has witnessed a decline in the working capital over the last year. It stood at $102.14 million as at Dec. 31, 2016, down 4.57 percent or $4.89 million from $107.03 million on Dec. 31, 2015. Current ratio was at 5.13 as on Dec. 31, 2016, down from 6.45 on Dec. 31, 2015.
Debt increases substantially
Houston Wire & Cable Company has witnessed an increase in total debt over the last one year. It stood at $63.57 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, up 48.22 percent or $20.68 million from $42.89 million on Dec. 31, 2015. Total debt was 36.17 percent of total assets as on Dec. 31, 2016, compared with 26.96 percent on Dec. 31, 2015. Debt to equity ratio was at 0.71 as on Dec. 31, 2016, up from 0.43 as on Dec. 31, 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
