Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. (NASDAQ:TLF)

FORT WORTH, Texas, Nov. 10, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. (Nasdaq:TLF) today reported financial results for the third quarter of 2011. Consolidated net income for the quarter ended September 30, 2011 was $829,000 compared to consolidated net income of $594,000 for the third quarter of 2010, an increase of 40%. Fully diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.08, compared to $0.06 in the third quarter of last year. Total sales for the quarter ended September 30, 2011 were $15.4 million, up 13% from $13.6 million in the third quarter last year.

Consolidated sales for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 were $47.2 million, up 11% from the 2010 first three quarter's sales of $42.6 million. Consolidated net income for the first three quarters of 2011 was up 17% at $3.1 million or $0.30 per fully-diluted share versus $2.6 million or $0.25 per fully-diluted share in the comparable period last year. 

Jon Thompson, Chief Executive Officer and President, commented, "We are pleased with the third quarter as sales were strong, gross profit margins matched that of last year's third quarter, and all divisions positively contributed to earnings. Further, we believe we have managed the pressure on gross profit margins well this year."

Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Shannon Greene, added, "Despite the economic uncertainly that continues to weigh on consumers, we have performed well through the first nine months of this year. We will continue to monitor our gross profit margin and operating expenses as we finish out the year in order to maximize earnings."

FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 16, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. (Nasdaq:TLF) announced today that on February 14, 2012, its Board of Directors authorized a $0.25 per share special one-time dividend to be paid to stockholders of record at the close of business on March 1, 2012. The dividend is payable on April 2, 2012.

Jon Thompson, Chief Executive Officer and President, commented, "Our recent financial performance and strength of our balance sheet has allowed us the opportunity to offer this dividend to our stockholders. The Board of Directors appreciates the commitment demonstrated by our stockholders and believes returning capital to them is the best use of our excess cash at this time."

FORT WORTH, Texas, Aug. 11, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. (Nasdaq:TLF) today reported financial results for the second quarter of 2011. Consolidated net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2011 was $1,076,000 compared to consolidated net income of $1,061,000 for the second quarter of 2010, an increase of 1%. Fully diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.11, compared to $0.10 in the second quarter of last year. Total sales for the quarter ended June 30, 2011 were $15.9 million, up 11% from $14.4 million in the second quarter last year.  

Consolidated sales for the six months ended June 30, 2011 were $31.8 million, up 10% from the 2010 first half sales of $28.9 million. Consolidated net income for the first half of 2011 was up 11% at $2.2 million or $0.22 per fully-diluted share versus $2.0 million or $0.20 per fully-diluted share in the comparable period last year.    

Jon Thompson, Chief Executive Officer and President, commented, "We managed to get through the quarter with higher sales, compared to last year's second quarter, but only a minimal increase to earnings. Gross profit margins as a percentage of sales are still down for the year, but improved slightly for the second quarter. The balance between sales and gross margins is a challenging task, but I believe we were successful finding that balance in the second quarter. We expect the pressure on margins to ease slightly as we go through the last half of the year."

Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Shannon Greene, added, "Despite only a small increase in our second quarter earnings compared to last year's second quarter, we are in line with our internal targets. The second quarter expense increase is easily identifiable and unfortunately, not totally controllable. Our cost of employee health coverage is up this quarter, as are legal and professional fees. Further, some non-operating items, specifically foreign currency translation, interest income, and gas royalty income, hurt us this quarter. These five items, and the income tax associated with them, affected our second quarter earnings by approximately $400,000. That has a significant impact on earnings." 

FORT WORTH, Texas, May 12, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. today reported financial results for the first quarter of 2011.

• Net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 was $1,151,000, up from net income of $948,000 in the first quarter of 2010, an increase of 21%.
• Fully-diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.11 in the current quarter, compared to $0.09 in last year's first quarter.
• Total sales for the first quarter were $15.9 million, an increase of 8.9% compared to 2010's first quarter sales of $14.6 million.

Jon Thompson, Chief Executive Officer and President, commented, "The first quarter was successful as both sales and earnings increased. Further, all three divisions contributed to the sales gain and earnings growth. Gross margin is down slightly as we have discussed in our last several news releases. Product costs are on the rise and we expect they will remain high through the remainder of the year. Our buyers are working hard to limit cost increases as much as possible, but it is getting more difficult. Until we can adjust selling prices in the fourth quarter, the pressure on margins continues."  

FORT WORTH, Texas, April 7, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. reported today that sales for the month of March were $5.7 million, up 7% compared to March 2010 sales. Year to date sales are up 9% to $15.9 million in the current year from $14.6 million last year.

Chief Executive Officer and President, Jon Thompson, commented, "March adds another month to our positive sales trend. We are expecting some pressure on gross margins in the next two quarters as leather prices remain high. Although we try to build cost increases into our selling prices, at some point, customer price resistance will come into play. We continue to look for unique buying opportunities in order to offset the higher prices on some of our everyday leathers. Without them, we could see gross margins decrease by up to 100 basis points in the second and third quarters. However, because leather is a commodity, we are not the only ones dealing with rising product costs."

This morning we noticed that insider buying activity has continued in TLF shares. After BANDERA PARTNERS LLC, Beneficial Owner of TANDY LEATHER FACTORY INC, Purchased 19,524 shares @ $4.48 in May, Bandera has followed up with another purchase of 11,975 shares @ $3.82 as of a June filing .

We are speculating that this may have been done for one of two reasons:

1. To take advantage of a $0.75 special dividend ...
2. To slowly accumulate enough shares to take the company private. This thought could be reinforced if Insider buying continues after the dividend is paid.  

Recall the on May 11, 2010 we began tracking Tandy Leather Factory. Besides the company's decent first quarter performance there are two more events that hace further piqued our curiosity:

• May 18, 2010, its Board of Directors authorized a $0.75 per share special one-time dividend to be paid to stockholders of record at the close of business on June 3, 2010. The dividend is payable on July 5, 2010.
  
• On May 19, 2010 BANDERA PARTNERS LLC Beneficial Owner of TANDY LEATHER FACTORY INC Purchase 19,524 shares @ $4.48

The issue with TLF has been with its inability to report break out EPS. We will continue to monitor the story.