FY'12 sales marginally up at Buckeye Technologies

Adjusted EPS of $0.66 was down $0.01 versus the third quarter as increased shipment volume, favorable shipment mix, and falling cotton linter prices mostly offset the $0.06 negative impact of the June outage at Foley.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John B. Crowe said, “Fiscal year 2012 was another year of record sales and earnings. During the year, we continued to generate significant cash flow, allowing us to invest in high rate of return capital projects, return cash to our shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, and essentially eliminate our debt.

“With a strong operating performance and actions taken to address underperforming assets, we delivered a return on invested capital (ROIC) in fiscal year 2012 of 16.5%, well above our cost of capital. While Buckeye is well positioned to continue to increase shareholder value, we believe that global economic uncertainty may generate a headwind for us in fiscal 2013.”

“Our fourth quarter results were significantly impacted by the steam drum failure and resulting production outage at our Foley facility in late June. Returning both lines to operation in just 17 days was a remarkable accomplishment by our organization.”

Buckeye, a leading manufacturer and marketer of specialty fibers and nonwoven materials, is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

Buckeye Technologies Inc