Huttig Building Products, Inc. (NASDAQ: HBP), St. Louis, on June 9 reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31. The domestic distributor of millwork, building materials and wood products saw net sales increase 2.8% over the prior year quarter to $203 million. Gross margin increased 120 basis points to 20.1%.

Other first quarter highlights, as compared to prior year quarter, include:

• Operating loss $7.6 million; exclusive of $9.5 million goodwill impairment charge, operating income increased $4.1 million to $1.9 million compared to a loss of ($2.2) million
• Adjusted EBITDA of $3.5 million compared to ($0.3) million
• Total liquidity increased to $55.4 million compared to $53.0 million

“Our first quarter operating results were significantly better across every key financial metric as compared to the prior year quarter. On a stand-alone basis, the first quarter of 2020 marked the first full quarter that our results began to reflect the positive impact we planned and anticipated since embarking on our accelerated growth strategy,” said President and CEO Jon Vrabely. 

With regard to the impact of COVID-19, Vrabely added, “The unprecedented magnitude and unpredictability of the coronavirus pandemic forced us to shift resources away from the continued execution of our growth strategy and towards the development and implementation of our COVID-19 readiness and response plan,” he said. “While we believe we were ahead of the curve in developing and executing the earliest versions of our response plan, and have continued to make meaningful progress, we anticipate the impact from this pandemic will be significant in the second quarter and thereafter as we continue working hard to mitigate its effect on our business.”