True Temper Sports, Inc. has announced its 2005 third quarter and year-to-date results. Net sales for the third quarter increased 19.8%, to $25.5 million from the $21.3 million recorded during the third quarter of 2004. Net sales for the first nine months increased 17.4%, to $90.2 million from $76.9 million in the first nine months of 2004.
In his comments about the company’s performance, Scott Hennessy, president and CEO said, “Entering 2005 we fully expected to grow our revenue and share position in several key categories. We established aggressive business plans to achieve this top-line growth, and the third quarter marks another successful step toward achieving our targeted full year results.
“During the third quarter we experienced revenue gains across all our major product lines, and saw continued strength in both our OEM and aftermarket distribution channels. We were particularly encouraged by the substantial growth obtained in our graphite golf shaft product lines, which more than doubled in sales when compared to the third quarter of 2004; achieving new record levels for both revenue and unit volume for the quarter. The gains in our graphite shaft business are being fuelled by the increasing momentum of our Grafalloy ProLaunch shaft, and the success of our stock OEM initiatives.
“While we strive for continued sales growth, our attention also remains focused on the quality of earnings generated by these revenue gains. During the third quarter we were especially pleased with the favourable product mix in our steel golf shaft category and the solid operating performance at our production facilities. These factors combined to offset continued commodity pricing pressure in raw materials and energy sources, and enabled us to deliver gross margins of 40.9%, over one point ahead of the 39.3% level from the third quarter of 2004.”
Commenting about the company’s outlook for the future, Mr. Hennessy said, “This year the golf industry has rebounded quite well from a lacklustre 2004. We do expect the overall market to be impacted somewhat during the fourth quarter from reduced play in the south-eastern regions that have been hard hit during this most active Atlantic hurricane season on record. However, many key indicators still point toward a solid year for golf equipment sales, and in particular, sets of irons sold are having a resurgence after a disappointing 2004. We believe True Temper will continue to benefit from these market forces, and in addition, we should see continued momentum for our graphite golf and performance sports categories during the fourth quarter. We anticipate that these factors should continue to drive overall revenue gains during the fourth quarter of 2005, as compared to the prior year.”
True Temper Sports www.truetemper.com
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