School Specialty, Inc. reported unaudited consolidated earnings results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 30, 2017. For the quarter, the company's revenues were $112,455,000 against $115,170,000 a year ago. Operating loss was $13,052,000 against $14,042,000 a year ago. Loss before provision for income taxes was $16,459,000 against $18,303,000 a year ago. Net loss was $10,729,000 or $1.53 per basic and diluted share against $13,842,000 or $1.98 per basic and diluted share a year ago. Adjusted LBITDA was $3,126,000 against $5,588,000 a year ago. The declines were primarily in the company's Supplies and Furniture product categories, which were impacted by mid-year cuts in education budgets. In addition, approximately $2.5 million of the decline was related to one less week in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017 as compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016. The year-over-year variance in net income was related to a smaller operating loss, and lower interest expense of $0.9 million or 21.7%, which is directly attributable to the debt refinancing in fiscal 2017, and a larger tax benefit. The increase in the tax benefit in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017 was related primarily to the $1.7 million reversal of the valuation allowance. Cash provided by operations was $38,815,000.

For the year, the company's revenues were $658,383,000 against $656,322,000 a year ago. Operating income was $24,858,000 against $22,961,000 a year ago. Income before provision for income taxes was $5,370,000 against $14,728,000 a year ago. Net income was $6,779,000 or $0.97 per basic and diluted share against $14,764,000 or $2.11 per basic and diluted share a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA was $53,130,000 against $51,109,000 a year ago. These decreases were partially offset by a $7.7 million or 4.2% increase in Furniture category revenues and a $6.2 million or 16.6% increase in Instruction & Intervention category revenues, the latter of which was favorably impacted by the Triumph Learning acquisition in fiscal 2017.

The company provided capital expenditure guidance for the year 2018. For the year, the company expects that CapEx and product development expenditures actually coming slightly down in 2018, about $600,000. The company anticipates revenue to come in, even better in 2018, between $680 million and $695 million, representing growth of approximately 3% to 6%. The company currently project end of year 2018 net debt to be down approximately $20 million versus 2017.