Insteel Industries, Inc. today announced financial results for its second quarter ended April 2, 2016. Net earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 increased to $7.2 million from $2.5 million in the same period a year ago.
Insteel's second-quarter results were favorably impacted by widening spreads between selling prices and raw material costs together with higher shipments and lower conversion costs relative to the prior year quarter.
Net sales increased 5.5 percent to $107.4 million from $101.8 million in the prior year quarter benefiting from the milder winter weather in many regions of the country. Shipments increased 20.1 percent from the prior year quarter while average selling prices decreased 12.1 percent. On a sequential basis, shipments increased 23.1 percent from the first quarter of fiscal 2016 while average selling prices decreased 5.6 percent.
"Looking ahead to the second half of the fiscal year, we should benefit from the continuation of the favorable trends in our nonresidential construction end-markets together with the usual seasonal upturn in demand," commented H.O. Woltz III, Insteel's president and CEO. "As we move further into the year, we also expect the federal funding provided for under the recently passed FAST Act will begin to have a more pronounced impact on the infrastructure-related portion of our business.
"We are pleased with the considerable progress that was made during the quarter on the upgrading and expansion of our Houston PC strand facility. The first phase of the project remains on track to be completed by the end of the first fiscal quarter of 2017 and is expected to reduce our annual operating costs by approximately $5 million. We are also moving forward on the addition of a third production line at the facility that is anticipated to start up during fiscal 2017 following the successful completion of the first phase of the project."