HB Fuller Posts Downbeat Q3 Results, Lowers FY15 Forecast

Shares of HB Fuller Co FUL dipped 7 percent in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the company reported weaker-than-expected results for its fiscal third quarter and lowered its forecast for the year. The company now expects FY15 earnings of $2.23 per share, versus its earlier forecast of $2.45 per share. It now projects revenue of $2.075 billion, versus prior outlook of $2.1 billion. For the current quarter, HB Fuller projects earnings of $0.70 per share on revenue of $540 million. Analysts expected earnings of $0.80 per share on revenue of $567.62 million. The Saint Paul, Minnesota-based company reported a quarterly profit of $26.8 million, or $0.52 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $3.99 million, or $0.08 per share. Excluding items, the company's profit surged to $0.61 per share from $0.42 per share. Its net revenue slipped 0.5 percent to $524.1 million, while constant currency revenue jumped 6.7 percent. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.70 per share on revenue of $537.2 million. Its gross margin expanded to 28 percent from 23.8 percent. At the end of the quarter, the company had cash of $86 million and total debt of $728 million. "We continue to drive steady improvements in our business," said Jim Owens, H.B. Fuller president and chief executive officer. "We posted an adjusted EBITDA margin of nearly 14 percent in the third quarter and we expect further margin improvement in the fourth quarter. The operational problems that hampered us a year ago are largely behind us. Our focus for the final quarter of this year is to re-establish growth momentum in the Americas and EIMEA operating segments and drive productivity gains across our manufacturing network. We expect a strong finish in the fourth quarter providing strong momentum for the 2016 fiscal year." HB Fuller shares dipped 7.01 percent to $31.70 in the after-hours trading session.