(RTTNews) -  Thursday, Coffee Holding Co., Inc. (JVA: News ) reported a 45% rise in profit for the third quarter, benefiting mainly from lower costs and operating expenses.

Net income for the third quarter increased to $0.80 million or $0.15 per share from $0.55 million or $0.10 per share in the previous year.

Net sales for the quarter declined 1.8% to $17.29 million from $17.60 million last year.

Cost of sales fell to $14.37 million, or 83.1% of net sales, from $15.00 million, or 85.2% of net sales, a year earlier. The company noted that the decrease in cost of sales primarily reflects the lower robusta green coffee purchase prices in the three month period.

Gross profit was $2.91 million, compared to $2.60 million in the previous year.
For the quarter, operating expenses slightly declined to $1.51 million from $1.52 million last year.

For the nine-month period, net income was $1.59 million or $0.29 per share, compared to a loss of $1.31 million or $0.24 per share in the same period of the previous year. Net sales for the period improved 6.5% to $54.02 million from $50.73 million a year ago.

JVA is currently trading at $4.70, up 0.46 or 10.90%, on the AMEX.

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by RTT Staff Writer

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