James Hardie Industries Q3 $31.5m Profit

Building products company, James Hardie Industries (ASX:JHX) have announced its third quarter results to December 2012 to its shareholders and investors on the Australian stockmarket.

• James Hardie Industries have announced its third quarter results to December 31 of $31.5 million up from a $4.8 million loss.
• Three quarters Net Profit is down US$115 million or 7 percent.
• The profit result above includes asbestos-related compensation costs, plus regulatory costs and tax adjustments. Without those adjustments, operating profit was up to US$28.8 million from US$27.7 million.
• There was a trend that builders were "value-engineering" and "de-featuring" houses to lower costs and houses were smaller, being built with lower cost materials. James Hardie Chief executive Louis Gries said, "They pull any costs out of the home that homeowners are not aware of. Meaning it's not easy to see if you've got five-eighth-inch gypsum (plasterboard) or half-inch gypsum, or if you have 24-inch spacing on studs versus 16 (inches), or you have two-by-sixes or two-by-fours (the width and depth in inches of wooden planks used in construction)."
• The company will anticipate increased demand and US$34 million will be spent reconfiguring and refurbishing a plant in California, which it closed in 2008 and plans to reopen in 2014.
• James Hardie forecasts full year underlying earnings of US$136 million to US$141 million, down from last November's forecast US$140 million to US$150 million
• James Hardie Industries has released a forecast for their final dividend of 35 US cents per share, unfranked, down from 38 US cents.