StoneMor Partners L.P. (STON) saw its loss widen to $11.64 million in the quarter ended compared with $3.26 million a year ago.
Revenue during the quarter dropped 3.95 percent to $78.54 million from $81.77 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 391 basis points over the previous year period to 67.47 percent. Operating margin for the quarter stood at negative 6.84 percent as compared to a positive 5.17 percent for the previous year period.
Operating loss for the quarter was $5.37 million, compared with an operating income of $4.23 million in the previous year period.
Larry Miller, StoneMor's president and chief executive officer, commented, "As we indicated in our previous announcement, third quarter financial results were disappointing. We continue to work on upgrading the quality of our sales force through increased recruiting efforts and other initiatives. The pace of progress has been below our expectations, but we believe our recent results are the result of a lack of execution and not due to any broad changes in the industry."
Operating cash flow improves significantly
StoneMor Partners L.P. has generated cash of $18.49 million from operating activities during the nine month period, up 53.67 percent or $6.46 million, when compared with the last year period.
The company has spent $18.31 million cash to meet investing activities during the nine month period as against cash outgo of $24.13 million in the last year period.
Cash flow from financing activities was $0.28 million for the nine month period, down 97.93 percent or $13.22 million, when compared with the last year period.
Cash and cash equivalents stood at $15.61 million as on Sep. 30, 2016, up 32.38 percent or $3.82 million from $11.79 million on Sep. 30, 2015.
Working capital increases
StoneMor Partners L.P. has recorded an increase in the working capital over the last year. It stood at $81.46 million as at Sep. 30, 2016, up 11.90 percent or $8.67 million from $72.79 million on Sep. 30, 2015. Current ratio was at 2.89 as on Sep. 30, 2016, up from 2.60 on Sep. 30, 2015.
Days sales outstanding went up to 84 days for the quarter compared with 75 days for the same period last year.
Debt moves up
StoneMor Partners L.P. has witnessed an increase in total debt over the last one year. It stood at $316.18 million as on Sep. 30, 2016, up 8.64 percent or $25.16 million from $291.02 million on Sep. 30, 2015. Total debt was 17.62 percent of total assets as on Sep. 30, 2016, compared with 17.30 percent on Sep. 30, 2015.
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