Globe Specialty Metals Announces Q1 Fiscal 2011 Results

NEW YORK, Nov. 10, 2010 - Globe Specialty Metals, Inc. (the "Company") today announces results for the quarter ended September 30, 2010.
First quarter results were negatively impacted by $1.4 million of book tax expense related to a discrete item recorded in the quarter and $2.0 million of after-tax start-up costs for the Niagara Falls, NY plant. The Niagara Falls plant is operating as expected, and we do not anticipate any further start-up costs. The decrease in diluted EPS, excluding the above items, from $0.11 per share in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 to $0.08 per share in the first quarter of fiscal 2011, was expected and is primarily due to the decrease in production and shipments caused by the planned maintenance outages.
First quarter EBITDA was $13.9 million, compared to $14.6 million in our fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 and $19.6 million in the first quarter of last year. First quarter EBITDA, excluding the items listed below, was $17.2 million.
Capital expenditures were $10.1 million in the first quarter and largely related to our planned maintenance outages at our Niagara Falls, Selma and Alloy plants. Our planned maintenance schedule and capital expenditure plans for fiscal 2011 are heavily weighted towards the first half of the fiscal year. We expect a meaningful decline in capital expenditures in our third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2011.
Cash and cash equivalents totalled $159.5 million at September 30, 2010 and total debt was $37.1 million. Cash provided by operating activities was $15.2 million in the first quarter.
Globe CEO Jeff Bradley commented, "Our markets remain strong, with the major silicone and polysilicon producers announcing increased calendar third quarter sales. We had anticipated the modest decline in sales and earnings in the quarter as a result of planned maintenance outages. All our plants are now running at full capacity and many of our planned maintenance outages for the fiscal year are behind us." Bradley continued, "As we said previously, we expect significant earnings growth in calendar 2011 after our existing low-priced silicon metal contracts expire."