Art's Way Manufacturing Co. (NASDAQ:ARTW) announced its financial results for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2009.

The company has scheduled a conference call Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010 at 10 a.m. ET to discuss the results and other information material to the company's business.

As of February 2010, order backlog is approximately $17,436,000, a 16% increase over the same time period in 2009, which was approximately $15,012,000.

Revenue: Total revenue decreased 17.9%, from $32.04 million in fiscal 2008 to $26.3 million for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2009. The decrease was mainly due to the unfavorable economic conditions for a majority of the fiscal year 2009, which we believe caused many of our customers to forego or postpone purchases of agricultural equipment.

Income: Operating income decreased from $2.77 million in fiscal 2008 to $708,000 for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2009, while net income for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2009 decreased from $1.83 million to $762,000. These decreases were due largely to reduced sales and lower gross margins, which were the result of the high cost of steel during a greater portion of fiscal 2009 versus fiscal 2008.

Earnings per Share: Earnings per diluted and basic share ended November 30, 2009 were $0.19, a decrease of $0.27 from 2008 earnings per diluted and basic share.

“Amidst a global recession, starting in the third quarter of 2008 and throughout most of 2009, Arts Way Manufacturing revenue was negatively influenced by the lack of revenue at Arts Way Scientific,” says J. Ward McConnell, Jr., Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. “Their revenue was significantly impacted by the delays in government funding of grants for new modular laboratories as a result of the slow release of the economic stimulus package.

“Companies and universities postponed many decisions to build scientific buildings until the stimulus funds were released, which is just now beginning to happen. In the coming quarters we expect Arts Way Scientific Buildings For Science to garner a proportionate part of the new laboratories being constructed as the stimulus funds are distributed.”

McConnell continued, “Despite these tough times, we are committed to our strategies of controlling costs, growing our product line mix, like the addition of our auger and manure spreader lines, and improving our product structure to create higher gross profits. We feel this strategic business plan is definitely on target and will prove successful long term as the economic recovery progresses.

The Company's Board of Directors declared an annual cash dividend of $0.06 payable on November 30, 2009, to shareholders of record on November 16, 2009. I am proud to say Arts Way Manufacturing has paid a dividend each year since 2005.”

He concluded by saying, “I want to assure our shareholders, we have taken aggressive measures to align our business with current market conditions. We are monitoring these initiatives closely to ensure we achieve our future expected financial results. Our strong financial position including our lack of short term debt and our growing backlog of over $17 million will allow us to continue making calculated improvements to our product line and grow our market share for years to come. 2010 is going to be a better year.”