Specialty fibers marketer Buckeye Technologies Inc announced that it expects already high costs, exacerbated by the impact of Hurricane Katrina, will reduce the Company's earnings for the quarter ending September 30, 2005 to about 5 to 7 cents per share, excluding restructuring and early debt extinguishment costs.
While none of the Company's operations suffered serious damage from Hurricane Katrina, the disruptions caused by the storm and the impact of high material and energy costs are expected to result in Buckeye's earnings falling below the 14 cents per share, excluding restructuring costs, earned in the July-September quarter of the previous year. Analysts expected earnings for the current quarter, excluding restructuring and early debt extinguishment costs, to be within the range of 9 to 13 cents per share.
The Company expects that sales for the quarter ending September 30, 2005 will be at or above the level achieved in the year ago quarter.
Buckeye Chairman, David B. Ferraro, commented that although the high costs they are experiencing and the disruptions caused by Hurricane Katrina are disappointing, they do not anticipate that they will have a long-term negative effect on our business. They will be repricing many annual contracts at the beginning of the calendar year and have confidence that they will reestablish margin growth during calendar year 2006."
Buckeye plans to announce its July-September 2005 quarterly earnings on October 24, 2005 and has scheduled a conference call at 10:30 EST, Tuesday, October 25, 2005 to further discuss its quarterly results.
Tennessee based cellulose-based products seller Buckeye Technologies is a leading manufacturer and worldwide marketer of "value added" cellulose based absorbent products.
The company is a manufacturer and marketer of specialty fibers and nonwoven materials. Currently, it operates facilities in the United States, Germany, Canada, and Brazil. Its products are sold worldwide to makers of consumer and industrial goods.
Buckeye is the only producer in the world offering cellulose-based specialty products made from both wood and cotton and utilizing wetlaid and airlaid technologies. As a result, they produce and market a broader range of cellulose-based specialty products than any of our competitors.
