Northwest Pipe Co. reports large second-quarter loss

Northwest Pipe Co. had a lethargic second quarter, though executives are optimistic about the rest of the year.

In a financial report released Friday, the company posted a $5.69 million net loss, compared with a $2.07 million loss in the second quarter of 2017.

Scott Montross is the president and chief executive officer of the Vancouver-based company, which manufactures water and wastewater infrastructure. In a conference call to discuss the financial report, he said much of the hole can be attributed to a slow bidding market that started in late 2017 and drug into early 2018.

That market is starting to improve, he said, as indicated by the company’s $122 million work backlog at the end of the second quarter — the highest in more than four years. “The bidding level and resulting backlog only started to grow in very late March. As a result, we saw very small revenue and very poor second-quarter results,” Montross said.

With several multiyear projects on the horizon, “all indicators point to improving revenue and margin as we progress through 2018,” he added.

The company purchased Ameron Water Transmission Group LLC, a supplier of welded steel pressure pipe and reinforced concrete pipe, for $38.3 million last week. The acquisition is part of the company’s stated strategy to divest from the oil and gas business and focus entirely on water transportation.

The merger “represents the opportunity for significant administrative and operational cost synergies,” Montross told The Columbian on Monday.

Looking forward, Northwest Pipe will aim to improve its financial health by focusing on margin over volume and driving down cost reduction and deficiencies, he said.