Rock Of Ages Shows 1Q 2004 Gains

CONCORD, N.H. – This year’s first quarter brought good news for Rock of Ages Corp., with a larger gross profit and a smaller net loss.
The large quarrier, manufacturer and retailer showed a gross profit of $3.19 million for 1Q 2004, up from $1.49 million in the first three months of 2003. The net loss for 1Q 2004 came to $3.24 million, down from $4.8 million from the same time last year.
The company also reduced short-term borrowings under its line of credit to zero in 1Q 2004, and reduced total debt by more than $5 million from 1Q 2003.
The company reduced losses in its quarrying and retailing divisions during 1Q 2004. The manufacturing division went from $36,000 in operating income in last year’s first quarter to a loss of $213,000 in 1Q 2004. Kurt Swenson, Rock of Ages chairman and CEO, attributed the loss to timing of shipments; he also noted an order backlog of approximately $1.5 million at the end of this year’s first quarter.
Swenson also reported a total retail backlog of $15.5 million on March 31 of this year, giving the company “reason to believe we are on the right track toward improved retail revenue in 2004.
“Since we currently supply only about five percent of the total market for stand-alone memorials, our growth opportunity is large,” Swenson added. “We have redeployed our management assets in retail to focus on market-share gains by empowering our people to drive revenue and operating margin from the local level. A key element in this initiative is an even-greater emphasis on partnering with funeral homes and cemeteries to sell our products.”
In other first-quarter financial moves, the company also announced plans in February to invest up to $5 million in FFS Holdings Inc. FFS indicated it would buy Forethought Financial Services, an insurance and financial product division of Hillenbrand Industries Inc. involved in pre-planned funerals, for $280 million. Hillenbrand is the largest U.S. producer of funeral caskets and hospital beds.
FFS Holdings is part of The Devlin Group, an investment firm including current and former executives of insurance-industry executives.