Columbia Paint & Coatings Inc., the Spokane-based maker of architectural and industrial paints and coatings, says it had record sales and earnings last year and is projecting double-digit sales growth again this year.


H.H. Larry Larison, Columbia Paints president and CEO, says the companys sales climbed to $47.5 million in 2003, up about 13 percent from the year before. He declines to divulge the companys earnings, but says they grew by about 21 percent in 2003.


Columbia Paint also set a record last year with a dividend per share of $1.55, which was up from $1.47 from the previous year, he says. It has 38 shareholders, and they derive income from their interests in Columbia Paint through dividends, but less than half of those shareholders work for the company.


Were conservatively estimating about a 10 percent increase in sales this year, Larison says.


He attributes the companys strong sales gains to the robust national housing market, generally good economic health regionally, and an aggressive, steady growth strategy. Columbia Paint opened its 35th store, in Bend, Ore., last October, and expects to open its 36thand its third in the Boise areaby June 1, he says. That store will occupy a leased 5,000-square-foot space and probably will employ three people initially, Larison says.


Weve had 25 percent per year growth just in the Boise market in the last five years, he says.


Through a distributor in Vancouver, British Columbia, Columbia Paint began selling its products in mainland China last year, and it expects to ship its third orderfour shipping-container loads of latex paintto that country within the next 30 days, Larison says.


Of growth prospects there, though, he says, I would say thats got to be a big question mark, due to the rapid changes occurring in China. The country is advancing quickly technologically, and before long probably will be developing its own high-quality paints, which would hamper export sales, he says.


Columbia Paints primary focus will continue to be the western U.S., he says.


He cites Western Washington and the fast-growing St. George area in southern Utah as a couple of markets where the company foresees additional growth potential over about the next five years.


Columbia Paint employs some 250 people, including about 80 in Spokane. Its stores are located throughout seven Western states.


A large number of other stores in the region also carry the companys products.