NEW HAMPTON, N.Y., Oct. 30, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Balchem Corporation (Nasdaq:BCPC) reported as follows (unaudited) for the period ended September 30, 2008.
($000 Omitted Except for Net Earnings per Share)
For the Three Months Ended September 30,
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2008 2007
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Net sales $ 58,235 $ 50,498
Gross profit 12,712 12,609
Operating expenses 5,486 5,416
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Earnings from operations 7,226 7,193
Other expense (290) (421)
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Earnings before income tax expense 6,936 6,772
Income tax expense 2,143 2,315
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Net earnings $ 4,793 $ 4,457
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Basic net earnings per common share $ 0.27 $ 0.25
Diluted net earnings per common share $ 0.25 $ 0.24
Shares used in the calculation of
diluted net earnings per common share 19,131 18,657
For the Nine Months Ended September 30,
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2008 2007
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Net sales $ 177,997 $ 122,468
Gross profit 39,146 34,532
Operating expenses 17,276 15,208
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Earnings from operations 21,870 19,324
Other expense (742) (871)
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Earnings before income tax expense 21,128 18,453
Income tax expense 6,970 6,490
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Net earnings $ 14,158 $ 11,963
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Basic net earnings per common share $ 0.79 $ 0.67
Diluted net earnings per common share $ 0.75 $ 0.65
Shares used in the calculation of
diluted net earnings per common share 18,987 18,544
Record Third Quarter Results for Earnings
Net sales of $58.2 million were achieved for the quarter ended September 30, 2008. This is an increase of 15.3% above the $50.5 million result of the prior year comparable quarter, resulting in record net earnings for the quarter of $4.8 million, an increase of $0.3 million, or 7.5%. The $4.8 million generated diluted net earnings of $0.25 per common share versus $0.24 per common share for the prior year comparable period, an increase of 4.2%.
Detailing this third quarter of 2008, the Animal Nutrition and Health segment achieved quarterly sales of $39.6 million, an increase of $5.3 million, or 15.3%, over the prior year quarter. Within this segment, the specialty animal nutrition and health products, targeted predominantly for ruminant animals, realized approximately 27.8% growth over the 2007 third quarter results with continued strong sales of Reashure(r), Nitroshure(tm), and chelated minerals. Feed and industrial grade choline product sales and derivatives grew approximately 13.2% over the prior year quarter, principally from increases in volume and selling price. Earnings from operations for this entire segment did however decline to $2.3 million as compared to $3.0 million in the prior year comparable quarter, largely due to the continued price increases in petro-chemical commodities used to manufacture choline. While oil and natural gas prices have recently declined, we were not a beneficiary of this trend until very late in the quarter. Our raw material costs actually rose early in the third quarter before modestly declining, and while some costs were passed on to customers, our pricing initiatives in the quarter were not enough to offset the cost increases. Additional price increases have been, and will be, implemented where we are contractually able to do so in the fourth quarter, and we do have an expectation that we will see some relief from these higher raw material costs for the balance of 2008. In addition, the Company temporarily shut down production during the quarter at its facility in St. Gabriel, LA as a direct result of hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
