Griffon Q4 Profit Plunges - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Griffon Corp. (GFF) reported net income for the fourth quarter of $0.4 million or $0.01 per share, compared to $3.4 million or $0.06 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted net income for the fourth quarter was $5.7 million or $0.10 per share, compared to $2.0 million, or $0.04 per share in the prior year quarter.

Revenue for the latest fourth quarter rose to $449.0 million from $447.4 million in the comparable quarter last year.

Separately, Griffon announced that it will repurchase 4.44 million shares of its common stock for $50 million from an affiliate of Goldman Sachs. The repurchase will be effected in a private transaction at a per share price of $11.25, an approximate 9% discount to the stock's closing price on November 12, 2013.

The company said the transaction is exclusive of its current $50 million authorized share repurchase program, of which $12 million remained as of September 30, 2013. After closing of the transaction, Goldman Sachs will continue to hold about 5.56 million shares of Griffon's common stock. Goldman Sachs has also agreed that, subject to certain exceptions, if it intends to sell its remaining shares of Griffon common stock at any time prior to December 31, 2014, it will first negotiate with the company in good faith to sell the shares to the company.

Griffon said it will fund the purchase with cash on hand and the transaction will be completed in December.