Brunswick Reports Increased Fourth Quarter Earnings
BRUNSWICK, Maine - Brunswick Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:BTIC), a leader in developing and manufacturing engineered reinforcements for the composite industry, today reported record revenue and earnings for the year ending December 31, 1999. Revenues during 1999 grew 7.9% to $44,684,000, up from $41,422,000 in 1998 while net income grew 14.3% to $1,770,000, up from $1,548,000 in 1998. Fully diluted earnings per share for the year grew 17.9% to $.33 compared to $.28 in 1998. Results in 1998 include 10 months of the international operations of Brunswick Technologies Europe Limited, which was acquired on March 3, 1998.
Net income in the fourth quarter of 1999 rose 24.1% to $438,000 compared to $353,000 in the fourth quarter of 1998 and fully diluted earnings per share increased to $.08, up 14.3% from the $.07 recorded in the same period last year. Revenues for the fourth quarter of 1999 totaled $10,462,000, off 5.7% from $11,097,000 posted in the same period in 1998.
Commenting on the results, Martin Grimnes, BTI Chairman and CEO, said "We were pleased with the overall results for the year. We achieved a 14% growth in net income and improved the operating margin for the year while sales growth was hurt by a weaker than expected fourth quarter. We also positioned the company strategically within the domestic distribution marketplace and introduced a line of advanced carbon fiber products. This planted the seeds for enhanced opportunities in the future as carbon based products command significantly higher prices than traditional fiberglass based reinforcements and could lead to higher profitability levels for BTI in the future" he explained.
Further advancements in BTI's processing technologies are expected to enable the company to bring additional innovative and unique carbon based solutions to the expanding composites industry worldwide. "Our challenge is to invigorate growth in base business while continuing the drive into new markets such as infrastructure and transportation industries. We are uniquely positioned to accelerate the evolutionary pace of the market by providing cost effective solutions for the composite industry and continue our focussed effort to do just that," Grimnes concluded.
According to Bill Dubay, President and COO, the consolidation of North American distributors has demanded an enormous amount of attention. "As we noted in our third quarter earnings release, the re-stocking after the traditionally slow third quarter was slower than expected and continued into the fourth quarter. Order patterns appear to be returning to more normal levels during the current year, but a large portion of domestic sales go through two national distributors, one of which underwent a complete restructuring in 1999. We strategically focussed to make sure BTI was the supplier of choice throughout this consolidation. While successful, BTI lost up to three weeks worth of revenues as distributors' warehouses were consolidated," Dubay commented. He went on to say that wind-blade industry for BTI-Europe was softer than expected in the fourth quarter and expressed cautious optimism for the industry in the current year. "The wind-blade business is extremely competitive worldwide and the strength of Sterling against the Euro has also had a negative effect on demand from European based customers."
Examples of products manufactured with BTI engineered reinforcements include: ballistic armor, boats, snowboards, truck panels, wind-blades, automotive parts, marine pilings, bridges, and offshore oil and gas production equipment. BTI has manufacturing facilities in Maine, Texas and the UK and more information may be found on the company's web-site: www.brunswicktech.com.
Matters discussed in this news release, including any discussion of or impact, expressed or implied, on the Company's anticipated revenue growth, operating results and future earnings per share contain forward-looking statements (identified by the words "expect", "estimate", "project", "plans", "believe", and similar expressions) that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. For these statements the company claims the protection of the safe harbor of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company's results may differ significantly form the results indicated by such forward-looking statements. The Company's future results are dependent upon general economic conditions, the availability of supplies of fiberglass, the ability to continue to improve operating margins, the ability to retain existing business and expand new and existing markets, competition from competing product lines from both fiberglass and non-fiberglass suppliers, the ability to maintain relationships with its distributors, the ability to manage growth in inventory, the stability of its customers' capital spending plans and the ability of the company to obtain necessary capital from time to time. These and other risks are detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including Form 10K for the year ended December 31, 1998.