BURLINGTON, Ontario, Oct. 27 /CNW/ --

EPS Almost Doubles From $0.08 in 2008 to $0.15 in the Third Quarter of
2009
- Adjusted EBITDA margin of 25.4% for the quarter as compared to 23.0% in
2008.
- Strong core price growth of 5.0%.
- Adjusted EBITDA of $28.5 million for the quarter.
- Free cash flow of $16.5 million.
- SG&A reduced by $2.0 million from the comparative quarter in 2008.

Waste Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: WSII) today announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009. Fully diluted earnings per share from continuing operations were $0.15 for the quarter as compared to $0.08 in the third quarter of 2008. Revenue for the quarter was $112.5 million compared to $125.7 million for the same quarter in 2008. Income from continuing operations for the quarter was $6.7 million as compared to income in the comparative period of $3.5 million. The results for the quarter are highlighted by:

--  Excluding recycled commodity sales, net of commodity surcharges, core
internal revenue growth from price was 5.0%.
--  Internal revenue relating to volume declined by $7.1 million or 5.7%.
--  Foreign currency translation accounted for $4.2 million or a 3.4%
reduction in revenue and the net expiration of municipal contracts
accounted for a decline of $2.5 million or 2.0% of revenue.

For the nine month period ended September 30, 2009, fully diluted earnings per share from continuing operations were $0.31 as compared to $0.28 in the corresponding period of 2008. Revenue for the period was $315.7 million compared to $370.6 million in 2008. Income from continuing operations for the period was $14.2 million as compared to income in the comparative period of $12.8 million. The results for the nine month period ended September 30, 2009 are highlighted by:

--  Excluding recycled commodity sales, net of commodity surcharges, core
internal revenue growth from price was 4.3%.
--  Internal revenue relating to volume declined by $19.3 million or 5.2%.
--  Foreign currency translation accounted for $24.4 million or a 6.6%
reduction in revenue and the net expiration of municipal contracts
accounted for a decline of $10.6 million or 2.9% of revenue.
--  Foreign currency translation unfavorably impacted EPS by approximately
$0.03 per share.

David Sutherland-Yoest, Waste Services President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are pleased to report record financial results for the third quarter and continued success in executing the strategy we laid out in the beginning of the year. Our progress this year is highlighted by our substantially reduced SG&A expense, significant pricing improvement in all markets, improved margins and record free cash flow. We are also reporting that we have been successful in managing our tax rate to allow us to eliminate our reconciliation of our GAAP earnings to reflect a normal tax charge and we are adjusting our guidance for the year to a range of $0.43 to $0.45 cents per share. Our recently announced strategic acquisitions in Miami and increased internalization of waste volumes into our Alberta landfill position the company for continued record results. The excellent results are a result of fine tuning the company's administrative and operating costs to adjust to the decline in revenue in the past year."

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures:

The following table reconciles the differences between income from continuing operations, as determined under US GAAP, and EBITDA from continuing operations, a non-GAAP financial measure (in thousands) (unaudited):

For The Three     For The Nine
Months Ended      Months Ended
September 30,     September 30,
-------------     -------------
2009     2008     2009     2008
----     ----     ----     ----
Income from continuing
operations               $6,717   $3,469  $14,173  $12,830
Income tax provision       3,682    5,322    8,837    6,927
Change in fair
value of warrants          (688)       -   (2,103)       -
Interest expense           7,528    7,730   22,418   25,770
Depreciation, depletion
and amortization         10,940   11,503   32,016   34,826
------   ------   ------   ------
EBITDA from continuing
operations (1)          $28,179  $28,024  $75,341  $80,353
=======  =======  =======  =======

The following table reconciles the differences between EBITDA from continuing operations and Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2009 and 2008 (in thousands) (unaudited).

For The Three     For The Nine
Months Ended      Months Ended
September 30,     September 30,
-------------     -------------
2009     2008     2009     2008
----     ----     ----     ----
EBITDA from continuing
operations (1)                      $28,179  $28,024  $75,341  $80,353
Adjustments to EBITDA from
continuing operations
(as defined per credit agreement):
Loss (gain) on sale of assets        (78)      (8)  (2,430)    (522)
Non-cash items (2)                   412      938    1,901    2,995
Other excludable expenses (3)          -        -       88        -
-------  -------  -------  -------
Adjusted EBITDA from continuing
operations (1)                      $28,513  $28,954  $74,900  $82,826
=======  =======  =======  =======

(1) EBITDA from continuing operations and Adjusted EBITDA from continuing
operations ("Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations") are non-GAAP
measures used by management to measure performance. We also believe
that EBITDA from continuing operations and Adjusted EBITDA from
continuing operations may be used by certain investors to analyze and
compare our operating performance between accounting periods and
against the operating results of other companies that have different
financing and capital structures or tax rates and to measure our
ability to service our debt.  In addition, management uses EBITDA from
continuing operations, among other things, as an internal performance
measure.  Our lenders also use Adjusted EBITDA from continuing
operations to measure our ability to service and/or incur additional
indebtedness under our credit facilities.  However, EBITDA from
continuing operations and Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations
should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net
income, cash flows or other financial statement data prepared in
accordance with US GAAP or as a measure of our performance,
profitability or liquidity.