Operating earnings at Eagle Materials' gypsum wallboard and paperboard operations shrank 10% to $5.1 million in the company's fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30 even though revenues rose 3% to $70.7 million, the Dallas-based company reported today.
Lower sales volumes were the main culprit, Eagle said. It shipped 397 million square feet of gypsum wallboard between July and September, 15% less than last year. In contrast, paperboard sales volumes rose 19% to 62,000 tons.
The average net sales price for the wallboard was $96.08 per thousand square feet, up 4% from the second quarter of fiscal 2009.
Company-wide, net earnings declined 8% to $9.6 million on a 4% drop in revenues to $132.1 million.
