Conrad Industries Reports Larger Loss, But Also Larger Backlog
Conrad Industries Inc., Morgan City, La., announced its 2023 financial results and backlog on April 1. The company reported a net loss of $27 million and loss per diluted share of $5.39 for the 12 months ending December 31, 2023, compared to net loss of $17.4 million and loss per diluted share of $3.47 for the 12 months ending December 31, 2022.
Total revenues were $239,774 million in 2023, up from $193,856 million in 2022.
Conrad reported that its backlog as of December 31, 2023, was $253.8 million, compared to $244.1 million at December 31, 2022, and $148.5 million at December 31, 2021.
“Our results for 2023 reflect a continued challenging operating environment, including challenges associated with continued high steel prices, inflationary price increases in other materials and equipment, supply chain disruptions, a tight labor market resulting in difficulties in retaining and hiring direct labor and rising interest rates during 2022 and 2023,” said Johnny Conrad, chairman and CEO. “A significant portion of our 2023 losses were related to fixed-price new-construction contracts that were signed prior to the substantial increases in inflation, higher labor costs and supply chain issues. These factors, along with the complexity of the new-construction projects, were the primary drivers of the losses in 2023.
“Although we face substantial uncertainties in our markets, we believe we are well-positioned to take advantage of opportunities as market fundamentals improve, due to our shipyard capacity, our investments in improving our shipyards’ capabilities and efficiencies and our experienced team,” he continued. “Bid activity has been good, and we believe the jobs we have recently signed include lessons learned on previous jobs, are not as complex and are better priced. We believe some delayed customer orders will move forward as steel prices stabilize or our customers’ business opportunities or fleet replacement needs require new vessels. We also remain optimistic about opportunities in our repair and conversions segment.”
Conrad concluded, “Despite the many challenges we have confronted, we remain optimistic about the long-term prospects for our business. We believe that our ability to provide products and services to a variety of customers and to respond to demand for new types of vessels is a competitive strength. The infrastructure, government, pressurized barge, offshore wind and other markets are presenting us with exciting opportunities. We are intently focused on executing our backlog effectively, obtaining new profitable projects and returning our company to profitability, in order to benefit our stockholders, employees, customers, suppliers and our community.”
Conrad Industries Inc., established in 1948 and headquartered in Morgan City, La., designs, builds and overhauls barges, dredges and dredge support equipment, tugboats, ferries, drydocks, liftboats, offshore support vessels and other steel products for both the commercial and government markets. The company provides both repair and new construction services at its five shipyards located in southern Louisiana and Texas.
