ChemFirst Inc. Announces First Quarter Earnings.JACKSON Jackson. 1 City (1990 pop. 37,446), seat of Jackson co., S Mich., on the Grand River; inc. 1857. It is an industrial and commercial center in a farm region. , Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 22, 1998--ChemFirst Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : CEM CEM contagious equine metritis. CEM selective medium chocolate agar made with Eugon agar and 5% horse blood; used to cultivate Taylorella equigenitalis. ) net earnings for the quarter ended March 31, 1998, were $9.8 million, or 48 cents per diluted di·lute tr.v. di·lut·ed, di·lut·ing, di·lutes 1. To make thinner or less concentrated by adding a liquid such as water. 2. To lessen the force, strength, purity, or brilliance of, especially by admixture. share, including a $5 million, or 25 cents per share Cents per share The amount of a mutual fund's dividend or capital gains distributions that a shareholder will receive for each share owned. , gain on the January 1998 sale of Power Sources, Inc. Net earnings for the same period last year were $8.1 million, or 39 cents per share. Sales for the quarter were up slightly from last year to $111 million. First quarter net earnings excluding the Power Sources gain were $4.8 million, or 23 cents per share. Chemicals pretax pre·tax adj. Existing before tax deductions: pretax income. pretax adj [profit] → vor (Abzug der) Steuern operating profits Operating profit (or loss) Revenue from a firm's regular activities less costs and expenses and before income deductions. operating profit See operating income. were $8.8 million versus $13.6 million same quarter last year. The decline was primarily due to lower custom manufacturing profits as a result of lower revenue and lower aniline aniline (ăn`əlĭn), C6H5NH2, colorless, oily, basic liquid organic compound; chemically, a primary aromatic amine whose molecule is formed by replacing one hydrogen atom of a benzene molecule with an amino production due to unscheduled unscheduled Adjective not planned or intended Adj. 1. unscheduled - not scheduled or not on a regular schedule; "an unscheduled meeting"; "the plane made an unscheduled stop at Gander for refueling" maintenance at Pascagoula. In addition, prices for some nitrotoluene derivatives derivatives In finance, contracts whose value is derived from another asset, which can include stocks, bonds, currencies, interest rates, commodities, and related indexes. Purchasers of derivatives are essentially wagering on the future performance of that asset. were down due to foreign competition. Sales for the chemicals segment were essentially unchanged from last year with improvements in electronic chemicals and additional sales from the recently acquired acylation acylation introduction of an acyl radical into the molecules of a compound. derivatives business offsetting lower custom manufacturing and aniline sales. The company's new 250-million-pound aniline plant at Baytown, Texas Baytown is a city located along the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Harris County with small portion in Chambers County, located along both State Highway 146 and , was completed under budget and started up in March ahead of schedule. The plant will supply Bayer's new MDI (1) (Multiple Document Interface) A Windows function that allows an application to display and lets the user work with more than one document at the same time. (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, most often abbreviated as MDI, is an aromatic diisocyanate. It exists in three isomers, 2,2'-MDI, 2,4'-MDI, and 4,4'-MDI. The 4,4' isomer is most practically useful, and is also known as Pure MDI. ) expansion at Baytown. "Our Baytown aniline facility, which is an integral part of Bayer's U.S. MDI manufacturing operations Manufacturing operations concern the operation of a facility, as opposed to maintenance, supply and distribution, health, and safety, emergency response, human resources, security, information technology and other infrastructural support organizations. , doubles our current aniline capacity," said J. Kelley Williams, ChemFirst's chairman and chief executive officer. "With this start up, ChemFirst becomes the sole aniline supplier to all of Bayer's U.S. plants." Engineered Products and Services pretax operating profits were $122,000 for the quarter versus $449,000 last year, primarily due to a 16 percent decrease in sales. Steel pretax operating profits for the quarter were $534,000 versus losses of $153,000 last year. The improvement was due to higher volume. Sales for the quarter were up 21 percent over last year. Unallocated corporate expenses were essentially the same as last year. Net interest income was $485,000 for the quarter, down due to a lower net cash position. Capital expenditures for the quarter were $12.4 million versus $17.6 million last year. Most of the capital expenditures were in Chemicals, primarily for the Baytown aniline facility completed this March. Dividend -- A quarterly cash dividend of 10 cents per share was declared payable March 26, 1998, to shareholders of record at the close of business March 11, 1998. Stock Repurchase Stock repurchase A firm's repurchase of outstanding shares of its common stock. -- During the quarter 236,200 shares of ChemFirst stock were acquired, using approximately 15 percent of the $40 million repurchase re·pur·chase tr.v. re·pur·chased, re·pur·chas·ing, re·pur·chas·es To buy (something) again. n. The act of buying something that one previously sold or owned. Noun 1. authorization The right or permission to use a system resource; the process of granting access. See access control. announced in November 1997. Outlook -- "We look for improvement in the second half and for a better 1998 excluding special items. We expect routine aniline production at Pascagoula going forward, and Baytown should be running at design capacity by the end of second quarter. By its nature, custom manufacturing will have earnings variations," said Williams. "The rest of our businesses are progressing well as expected." Unaudited condensed con·dense v. con·densed, con·dens·ing, con·dens·es v.tr. 1. To reduce the volume or compass of. 2. To make more concise; abridge or shorten. 3. Physics a. financial information is attached. This release includes forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. based on management assumptions and expectations. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially. For additional information on risk factors that could affect actual results, please refer to the company's 1997 Form 10-K Form 10-K A report required by the SEC from exchange-listed companies that provides for annual disclosure of certain financial information. Form 10-K See 10-K. . ChemFirst Inc. companies produce specialty chemicals A Specialty chemical is a chemical produced for a specialized use. They are produced in lower volume than bulk chemicals, of which petrochemicals, made from oil feedstocks, are the most common. However, both are produced in a chemical plant. and chemical intermediates for industry and agriculture, and provide engineered products and services to chemical and other industries. -0-
ChemFirst Inc. and Subsidiaries
Operating Results and Industry Segment Information
(Unaudited. In Thousands, Except Per Share Amounts)
3 Months ended
Mar. 31
1998 1997
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Sales:
Chemicals $ 74,173 74,473
Engineered Products and Services 15,112 17,984
Steel 22,083 18,263
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Total Sales $111,368 110,720
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Operating profit (loss):
Chemicals $ 8,785 13,580
Engineered Products and Services 122 449
Steel 534 (153)
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9,441 13,876
Unallocated corporate expenses (2,174) (2,268)
Interest income, net 485 1,039
Other income, net 8,236 100
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15,988 12,747
Income tax expense 6,235 5,036
Equity in net earnings of equity investees - 408
-------- -------
Net earnings $ 9,753 8,119
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Earnings per common share $ 0.49 0.39
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Average shares outstanding 19,886 20,614
Earnings per common share, assuming dilution $ 0.48 0.39
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Average shares outstanding 20,206 21,081
Cash dividend declared per share $ 0.100 0.100
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(Unaudited. In Thousands)
Mar. 31 Dec. 31 Mar. 31
1998 1997 1997
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Cash and cash equivalents $ 17,110 7,766 46,940
Other current assets 166,453 165,649 144,979
Other assets 285,863 285,931 220,301
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Total assets $469,426 459,346 412,220
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Current liabilities $ 98,779 95,356 71,401
Long-term debt 4,774 4,865 1,971
Other liabilities 41,267 37,428 29,037
Stockholders' equity 324,606 321,697 309,811
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Total liabilities & stockholders' equity $469,426 459,346 412,220
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Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(Unaudited. In Thousands)
3 Months ended
Mar. 31
1998 1997
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Cash flows from operating activities:
Net earnings $ 9,753 8,119
Depreciation and amortization 6,102 5,190
Other - including gain on disposition (7,244) (14,294)
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Net cash provided by (used in)
operating activities 8,611 (985)
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Cash flows from investing activities:
Capital expenditures (12,444) (17,620)
Other - including proceeds on disposition 18,962 2,389
Net cash provided by (used in)
investing activities 6,518 (15,231)
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Cash flows from financing activities:
Net borrowings of notes payable to banks 2,000 -
Net repayments of debt (151) (325)
Other financing activities (7,634) (4,904)
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Net cash used in financing activities (5,785) (5,229)
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Net increase (decrease) in cash and
cash equivalents $ 9,344 (21,445)
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Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 17,110 46,940
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CONTACT: ChemFirst Inc., Jackson Jim McArthur, 601/948-7550 |
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