Miller Industries reports sales, profits down,

Miller Industries Inc. hauled in less money in the third quarter as the Chattanooga- based tow truck maker continued to suffer from a drop in sales due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sales in the three-month period ended Sept. 30 fell by 13.9% from a year ago to $168.4 million, helping to cut Miller’s profits in the period by 18.9% to $6.6 million, or 57 cents per share.

Despite the decline in third- quarter sales and profits from a year ago, the drop was much less than the 31% drop in sales this spring when COVID19 restrictions cut sales even more.

“While the ongoing impact of COVID-19 continued to weigh on our performance in the third quarter, we are encouraged by the sequential improvements in our business from the sharp declines we experienced last quarter,” said Jeff Badgley, co- CEO for Miller Industries. “Despite the challenging environment, we continued to invest in our business by repurposing a portion of an existing facility to bring certain production aspects in- house in order to mitigate future supply chain constraints.”

Badgley said the company expects to phase in the production improvements by the end of the year and he said the company “continued to make progress on our technology upgrade initiatives, and I am pleased to report that the roll out of our enterprise software solution remains on schedule.”

Miller Industries also aid down the remaining balance on its credit facility during the third quarter, eliminating all long- term debt obligations while also increasing its cash position to $ 47.5 million as of Sept. 30.