Americas Car-Mart Gives CFO Added Title of President

America’s Car-Mart Inc. of Bentonville announced Thursday that chief financial officer Jeffrey A. Williams will also become the company’s president, effective March 1.

William “Hank” Henderson, who did hold the titles of president and chief executive officer, will continue as the company’s CEO, according to a company filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Williams, 53, has been CFO, vice president of finance and secretary of the company since October 2005. He has been a director since August 2011. Before joining America’s Car-Mart he spent seven years in public accounting with Arthur Andersen & Co. and Coopers and Lybrand LLC in Tulsa and Dallas.

He also spent five years as CFO and vice president of operations of Wynco LLC, a national distributor of animal health products.

In addition, Leon Walthall has been promoted to a newly created position of field operations officer, where he will oversee the company’s regional vice presidents of operations. Walthall has been with America’s Car-Mart for more than 27 years, for the last six as a regional vice president.

“We are very excited for Leon and Jeff and appreciate their hard work and dedication to the company,” Henderson said. “I am confident that expanding their scope of influence will be very beneficial and a move in the right direction to realizing the true potential of our company.”

America’s Car-Mart also announced that Vickie Judy, vice president of accounting and controller, will assume additional responsibilities as the principal accounting officer. That also takes effect March 1.

Judy, 49, has worked in her current job since August, and previously served as director of financial reporting since May 2010. Before joining the company her experience included approximately five years in public accounting with Arthur Andersen & Co. and approximately 17 years at National Home Center Inc., most recently as vice president of financial reporting.

3Q Earnings Report

America’s Car-Mart also reported earnings Thursday for the third quarter of fiscal 2016. The company reported net earnings of $4.1 million and revenues of $137 million, up slightly from $132 million during the third quarter of the previous year.

Retail unit sales however, were down 4.2 percent to 11,013 from 11,495 for the prior year’s quarter, with decreased productivity at 25 retail units sold per store per month, down from 28 for the prior year’s quarter.

“We feel good about the quality of the vehicles we are selling and the credit profiles of our customers,” Henderson explained. “However, we continue to struggle with our sales volumes as we haven’t yet seen relief from the operating environment.

“There is no doubt that competition is still very intense and January was particularly weak from a sales volume perspective. In addition to the high level of competition, we also attribute the volume challenges to us being more conservative with our underwriting and to a delay in income tax refunds this year compared to last.”