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ATLANTA — For the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, Marine Products Corporation saw a 37.8 percent decrease in the number of boats sold and a 5.8 percent decrease in the average selling price per boat, according to the company’s latest financial report.
Those declines caused the company’s net sales to drop 41.5 percent to $13,313,000.
Units sold decreased among all product lines, with the company operating at low production levels in response to weak industry conditions.
Gross profit for the quarter was $933,000, or 7.0 percent of net sales, compared to $2,350,000, or 10.3 percent of net sales, in the prior year. The company said gross profit as a percentage of net sales declined compared to the prior year due to cost inefficiencies resulting from lower production volumes.
Operating loss for the quarter was $4,756,000 compared to an operating loss of $1,831,000 in the fourth quarter of last year. Selling, general and administrative expenses in the fourth quarter increased by 36.1 percent compared to the prior year due to estimated costs to be incurred to support dealers in their continuing efforts to sell their remaining field inventory of prior model years.
Net loss for the quarter was $2,764,000 compared to a net loss of $1,126,000 in the prior year.
Net sales for the twelve months ended Dec. 31 were $48,471,000, a 72.4 percent decrease compared to the year ended Dec. 31, 2008. Net loss for the twelve-month period was $10,693,000 compared to net income of $7,586,000 per share in the prior year.
Despite the losses, Richard A. Hubbell, Marine Products’ CEO, said the company was well positioned for 2010 with field inventories only slightly more than one-third of the prior year’s.
“In this environment of historically low dealer inventories, we are uniquely positioned to meet dealer and customer demand for new products and adjust production appropriately,” Richard A. Hubbell, Marine Products’ CEO, said in the report. “By the end of the first quarter, our unit production will be almost 100 percent higher than in the third and fourth quarters of 2009 to satisfy current dealer demand for 2010 models. There are many signs confirming that this cycle has bottomed, and we will leverage our financial strength, our position with our dealers, and our fleet of updated models to serve our dealers and customers during 2010.”
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