Ennis reports Q3 EPS 38c vs. 44c last year

Reports Q3 revenue $104.6M vs. $110.2M last year. Keith Walters, CEO, commented, “Our results for the quarter were within our expectations given this challenging economic environment, weakened demand and customer destocking. Our gross profit margin showed a 180-basis point decline from the sequential quarter, decreasing from 31.0% to 29.2% and a 120-basis point decline compared to 30.4% in the same prior year quarter and our EBITDA declined slightly at $18.3 million or 17.5% of sales for the current quarter compared to the preceding quarter, $19.8 million or 18.5% of sales and compared to the same quarter last year $20.0 million or 18.2% of sales. Our gross profit margin percentage was impacted by our recent acquisitions, which had a dilutive impact on our margin for the third quarter. We believe once we have fully analyzed the acquired businesses’ cost structures and implemented our ERP system, the margins of the acquired businesses will improve to expected levels. These acquisitions did add approximately $6.0 million in revenues for the quarter and $16.7 million in revenues for the nine-month period. Diluted earnings per share were negatively impacted $0.02 per diluted share for the quarter and positively impacted $0.06 per diluted share for the nine-month period. Additional expense related to the recent acquisitions negatively impacted the quarter earnings. “During the current quarter, we completed the acquisition of Eagle Graphics, Inc. and Diamond Graphics, Inc. Eagle Graphics specializes in commercial printing and Diamond Graphics specializes in Direct Mail printing. These acquisitions strengthen our production capabilities enabling us to serve our large and growing customer base in the Northeast part of the country. We will continue to explore acquisitions that make sense and hunt for new sales in new markets and new channels. As part of our regular course of business we continue to monitor incoming order volumes so that we can proactively adjust our costs accordingly and maintain our profitability. “We believe we have one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry, with no debt and significant cash. During the quarter, we purchased approximately $18.4 million of U.S. government treasury bills with staggered maturities of between three months and twelve months and classified all outstanding treasury bills as short term investment securities on our condensed consolidated balance sheet as of November 30, 2023. Our profitability and strong financial condition will allow us to continue operations and fund acquisitions without incurring debt. Given those strengths, we also anticipate timely access to credit should larger acquisition opportunities materialize. We continue to focus on delivering profitability and returns to our shareholders.”