CanWel Building Materials Income Fund (TSX:CWX.UN) virtually broke even for its first quarter ending March 31, 2007, as lumber and panel product prices continued to drop with the downturn in the U.S. housing market.
Sales for the Vancouver company fell 12% to $190 million compared with $217 million in 2006's first quarter. As a result, quarterly profits fell to $166,000 compared with $2.4 million in the same period a year ago.
Despite the drop in sales, the company's gross margin of 11.6%, or $22 million, rose compared with 2006's first quarter gross margin of 9.7%, or $21 million, due to an increase in sales of its higher added-value specialty and hardware products.
CanWel's unit price range during the past week: between $4.23 and $4.35; 52-week high: $5.10; 52-week low: $3.06.