AMVAC sales down by 4% in Q1 2019

Date:05-09-2019

American Vanguard's sales decreased 4.2 % to $99.7 million in the first quarter of 2019 and its net income was down by 17% to $3.9 million.

Eric Wintemute, Chairman and CEO of American Vanguard commented, “Thanks to international diversification, our overall top-line performance for this year’s first quarter was moderately below that of last year’s first quarter notwithstanding widespread unfavorable weather in the North American region. While rain and cold slowed procurement activity in many domestic regions, our international business grew by 9% year-over-year. Further, driven by strong manufacturing performance and an optimal product mix, our overall gross margin grew to 42% from 39% as compared to first quarter of 2018. Over the course of the year, we expect to recover most of the domestic sales that were lost during the quarter. In fact, we forecast overall net sales for 2019 to be between $510 million and $530 million, which is above the range that we had previously forecast.”

Mr. Wintemute continued, “Over the coming quarters, we will focus on strengthening our balance sheet by reducing inventory to a target of $145 million, generating cash from increased sales, managing operating expenses, maintaining factory efficiency and reducing debt to $100 million or less. We look forward to giving greater detail on our quarterly performance during the earnings call. Further, we will be reporting on our five-year outlook and the expected financial performance of our SIMPAS technology during the annual shareholders’ meeting this June.”