National Home Quarterly Net Income Swells

National Home Centers Inc. of Springdale said net income for the third quarter increased from last year — up to $705,000, or 10 cents per share, from $68,000, or 1 cent per share, last year.

The company also reaffirmed the commencement of a previously announced tender offer by CEO and majority shareholder Dwain A. Newman. Newman — technically, The Newman Family LLC — sent shareholders formal offers of $1.40 per share in early November for all shares he doesn’t already own. The offer is set to expire at 5 p.m. on Dec. 10. Newman intends to take the company private.

National, a company that operates eight lumber yards in Arkansas and an equal number of small, home-improvement retail stores, said net sales increased to $31.6 million compared with $25.2 million in the third quarter a year ago. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for the third quarter was $1.3 million versus $753,000 last year.

The company said 79 percent of its revenue was from sales to professional contractors, and 21 percent was from sales to retail customers. Those numbers were 81 percent and 19 percent, respectively, in the third quarter last year.

“We are pleased to report that ten of our last eleven fiscal quarters have been profitable. Our comparable store sales were higher because of continued large project business and lower mortgage rates,” Newman said. “Sales prices and costs for our two largest sales categories, lumber and plywood, which peaked earlier in the year, have fallen in the past several weeks, which should help our customers for the next few months.”