Central Garden & Pet Co. (CENT), Wednesday said its third-quarter profit increased from the same quarter last year, primarily helped by a decline in expenses. Revenues for the quarter declined from a year ago, and was below Street estimates.
Quarterly net income improved to $31.1 million or $0.44 per share from $15.6 million or $0.22 per share in the same quarter last year.
On average, six analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected third quarter earnings of $0.29 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items such as one-time charges or gains.
Operating income for the third quarter increased 52% to $51.6 million from $33.9 million in the same quarter a year ago.
Quarterly sales, however, declined to $482 million from $493 million in the comparable quarter last year, below Street estimates of $495.14 million, hurt by a 10% decline in sales of its pet products as well as a 13% drop in branded product sales.
Quarterly results were positively impacted by a decline in selling general and administrative expenses, interest expense and an increase in other income. Selling general and administrative expenses for the third quarter decreased to $113.484 million from $119.079 million in the same quarter last year, while interest expenses declined to $5.211 million from $9.346 million in the same quarter last year. Other income for the quarter was $1.161 million, up from $783 thousand in the same quarter last year.
William Brown, chairman and chief executive officer, Central Garden & Pet Company, said, "Gross profit margins improved substantially, we further lowered operating expenses, and we continued to significantly reduce our investment in working capital. Building upon these achievements, our goal is to drive further margin and capital efficiency improvement across the business."
For the nine-month period, net profit was $57.9 million or $0.82 per share, compared to a net loss of $253 million or $3.55 per share in the same period last year.
Revenues for the period declined to $1.25 billion from $1.29 billion in the comparable period a year ago.
CENT closed Wednesday's trading at $12.68, up $0.33 or 2.67%, on a volume of 0.493 million shares on the Nasdaq. In the after hours, the stock gained $0.33 or 2.67% to trade at$13.25
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