Boating Industry Intelligence You Can Profit From
ATLANTA — Marine Products Corp., the maker of Chaparral pleasure boats and Robalo fishing boats, generated net sales of $8.7 million in its third quarter, a 72.3-percent decrease compared to $31.5 million last year. The company shared its quarterly numbers in a report released today.
The decrease in net sales for the quarter, which ended Sept. 30, was due to a decrease of 75.7 percent in the number of boats sold, as well as a 2.5 percent decrease in the average gross selling price per boat due to a change in model mix.
Gross profit for the quarter was $1.1 million, or 13 percent of net sales, compared to $5.1 million, or 16.2 percent of net sales, in the prior year. Gross profit as a percentage of net sales declined compared to the prior year due to low production levels, which resulted in significant production inefficiencies, the company said. Unit sales among all models declined significantly compared to the prior year, because dealers met the majority of retail demand by liquidating their existing inventory, according to the company.
The company’s operating loss for the quarter was $3.3 million, compared to an operating profit of $1 million in the third quarter last year.
Net loss for the quarter was $1.6 million, a decrease compared to net income of $684,000 in the prior year.
“During the third quarter we supported our dealers to maintain low inventories while also preparing for our 2010 model year and another winter boat show season,” Richard A. Hubbell, Marine Products’ CEO, said in a statement. “While our financial results were negatively impacted by low sales to dealers and our financial support of their inventory reduction efforts, this was an investment to prepare for better times in the future.”
Hubbell said field inventory levels at the end of the third quarter are the lowest they have been in 13 years. Because of that, the company has increased production during the fourth quarter.
To read the company’s complete report, click here.
- Can’t get enough boating news? Subscribe to our blog’s RSS feed, follow us on Twitter or look for “Boating Industry” on Facebook and LinkedIn.
- For more of the latest news, click here.