Just three months after launching itself as a publicly traded company, Foundation Building Materials (FBM) reported it swung to a $3.9 million net profit in the first quarter from a $1.3 million net loss in the year-earlier period. Revenue for the acquisition-busy specialty dealer shot up 96% to reach $479.5 million.
Tustin, Calif.-based FBM, which bills itself as North America’s largest specialty distributor of suspended ceiling systems, Net income of $3.9 million, including a gain of $13.3 million on a derivative.
Nearly $198 million of the company’s $244.6 million of the company’s sales growth came via five acquisitions FBM made in 2016 and five more it has done already this year. Sales at branches owned as of New Year’s Day 2016, plus revenues from branches FBM opened, rose 11% in January to March 2017 over the previous year’s first quarter. That was worth about $23.3 million.
Gross profit rose 93.7% to $139.9 million, but the margin as a share of sales dipped to 29.2% from 29.5%. FBM blamed the decline on “the Winroc-SPI acquisition and the resulting change in product mix, which was partially offset by a positive contribution from purchasing synergies.”
Selling, general and administrative rose 99.2% to $113.1 million, with the Winroc-SPI deal again playing an outsized role.
