BlueLinx Net, Revenues Slip in 4Q

BlueLinx Holdings, the Atlanta-based building products distributor, reported today its net loss worsened to $7.6 million in the fourth quarter ended Jan. 3 from a $2.5 million loss in the year-earlier quarter. Revenues slipped to $454.1 million, a 3% drop from a year after adjusting for the fact that 2013’s fiscal fourth quarter had 14 weeks. Revenues on a same-store basis were down, primarily due to volume decreases for lumber and rebar.

Gross profit for the company shrank 8% to $49.8 million, while gross margin decreased to 11.0% from 11.2%. Margins fell mainly because of a drop in lumber prices, BlueLinx said.

BlueLinx likes to view its earnings in terms of adjusted EBITDA–earnings plus interest expense and related items, income taxes, stock compensation, depreciation and amortization, as well as other non-cash items and certain other adjustments. That measure highlights cash flow, and by that metric adjusted EBITDA for the company’s fiscal fourth quarter swung to a positive $1.9 million from a negative $1 million in the year-earlier period.

“The fourth quarter of 2014 represents our sixth consecutive quarter of improved year-over-year EBITDA results, and the full year adjusted EBITDA of $24.6 million is a $23.3 million improvement over 2013 and our best since 2007,” president and CEO Mitch Lewis said in a statement. ” It is apparent that we are beginning to see the results of the numerous initiatives we began in 2014.”

For the full fiscal year, BlueLinx posted a net loss of $13.9 million, a marked improvement from fiscal 2013’s loss of $40.6 million. Revenues for the year totaled $1.98 billion. That’s an 8% drop compared to fiscal 2013 but a 3% decline if one excludes revenues from several distribution centers closed in 2013 plus the fact that there was a 53rd week in 2013. Adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2014 improved to $24.6 million from $1.3 million.

BlueLinx currently operates 49 distribution centers serving much of the United States. The company has closed five distribution centers since 2013 and has left most markets west of the Rockies and north of Southern California so that it can focus on growing sales in the more populous parts of the country.

Today’s earnings announcement came one day after BlueLinx announced an extension of its revolving credit agreement with a syndicate of banks. The existing $447.5 million U.S. revolving credit facility was extended until April 2017, and the $20 million Tranche A loan component of the revolving credit facility was extended until June 2016.