Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from David Yuschak - SMH Capital.
David Yuschak - SMH Capital
As far as the preservatives segment guys, was there just some catch up here in the quarter relative to what the kind of depression we’ve seen in a lot of businesses in that December/January period? Was it more just a catch up that led to that type of thing or was there something different than what you may have expected in the way of this kind of outstanding results?
J. Neal Butler
No, it was not really a catch up. The volumes weren’t significantly up over prior quarters. We had some price increases that we had implemented earlier that obviously had a positive impact in the third quarter. Additionally, with some of the cost reductions we had with some of the raw materials we saw an improvement in the margins and I guess when I look at it we would say it’s probably more of a recovery than a catch up.
David Yuschak - SMH Capital
Looking in to this next couple of quarters, are you seeing demand starting to come back then as far as more volume versus the prices you’ve realized so far?
J. Neal Butler
Well, it depends on the segment. We do believe that we’ll see that in the electronic chemical segment. As we mentioned, it’s a bit difficult to predict exactly when that will hit but the anticipation is that the semiconductor market will rebound. I think you’ll see in the wood preservative business that we expect pretty close to a steady state there and the animal health business for the fourth quarter will be up over the fourth quarter of prior year.
When you look at animal health you really have to look at it as a second half business and I’m talking about our fiscal second half versus a third quarter business or a fourth quarter business. The business can fall equally in to the third of fourth quarter and this year it’s just coming later than it has in prior years.
David Yuschak - SMH Capital
Then as far as the electronic chemical business because of this kind of run rate that you’ve got and kind of the economic conditions out there, are you seeing maybe some pricing pressure by others to try and take some market share during this period of time or has it just been no volumes at all from anybody to have any price competition from whoever?
- To read the full transcript on Seeking Alpha, click here »
