Bison Building Materials, the Houston-based LBM dealer now in its ninth month of bankruptcy-law protection from creditors, reported a net loss of $759,000 in February. That brings to nearly $5 million Bison's losses since it made its Chapter 11 filing last June 28.
In a March 30 filing, Bison said it had $9.6 million in revenues in February, its best showing since last October. But its cost of revenues climbed to $7.5 million, the most since August, leaving it with gross profit of $2.2 million--more than $300,000 less than its general and administrative costs alone. Interest expenses and depreciation accounted for most of the rest of February's loss.
As of Feb. 28, Bison had $14.5 million in accounts receivable, up 13.1% from January's $12.9 million. Of February's total, $1.5 million were at least 90 days past due. That's 10.3% of the total, down from January's 11.8% and December's 14.8%.
Bison ranked No. 14 on last year'sProSales 100, with 2008 revenue of $271 million. Based on its second-half 2009 revenue reports, it took in roughly $120 million last year.
Bison attributes its descent into Chapter 11 to its expansion along the Interstate 35 corridor in 2005 and then into Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Ohio and New Mexico. When the housing market soured, Bison retrenched to its core Texas business in metro Houston and encountered trouble unwinding its ventures outside of Texas.
The company has hired WoodRock & Co. of Houston to help it find investors or otherwise raise capital.
