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[April 2004]
Good Outlook This Year for CARBO Ceramics - New Facility Planned
Dr Mark Pearson, the President and CEO of ceramic proppant manufacturer CARBO Ceramics Inc (Irving, TX USA) was upbeat about the company's prospects when recently addressing the outlook for 2004. "We believe that continued strong natural gas prices will result in increased drilling activity in 2004," he said. "We also believe that the operators of natural gas and oil wells are increasingly recognizing the importance of maximizing production from each well in reducing overall development costs.
"We expect this trend to continue to increase the demand for our products and that is the primary reason we have committed to add capacity in China by mid-year. As previously announced, we will be also breaking ground later this year on a new facility in McIntyre, Georgia with a planned capacity of 250 million pounds."
In 2003, the company had a record net income of US$29.6 million on record revenues of US$169.9 million. This compared with net income in 2002 of US$19.7 million on revenues of US$126.3 million. For the full year 2003, the average selling price actually decreased 2 percent due to a shift in the mix of products sold compared to the previous year; however, gross profit margin increased from 41% in 2002 to 43% in 2003.
The improved margins were primarily attributable to improved operating performance and higher throughput at the company's manufacturing facilities.
ENDS