Nortek reports losses, conditions bleak

By Kimberley Donoghue
PBN Web Editor
Twitter: @kdonog

PROVIDENCE – Nortek Inc., manufacturer of residential and commercial building products, reported a net loss of $2.1 million for the third quarter and warned that the business climate appeared “unlikely” to improve in the near future.

Nortek tumbled from a profit of $9.8 million in the same 2010 quarter. The company posted a loss per diluted share of 14 cents, compared with a 64 cent profit per diluted share a year earlier.

At the same time, net sales increased to $551.8 million from $496.6 million.

The company said it planned to announce a new CEO, replacing interim head David Smith, by the end of the year.

“Nortek is focused on driving improvement in its business and managing costs in order to increase margins and improve cash flow, as meaningful near-term improvement in the residential and commercial construction markets and the overall economy appear unlikely,” Smith said.

“Nortek is well positioned to take advantage of opportunities when the business climate improves,” he said on Tuesday - the company’s first day of trading its stock on the Nasdaq as “NTK.”

For the first nine months of the year, Nortek widened its loss to $55.1 million, or $3.64 per diluted share, from a loss of $3.3 million, or 22 cents, a year earlier. Net sales for the period increased to $1.6 billion from $1.4 billion.

On Oct. 1, Nortek had $57 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities; it had $77 million in outstanding debt.