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[February 2010]
CARBO Ceramics Reports on Last Quarter 2009
CARBO Ceramics Inc (Houston, TX, USA) has reported income from continuing operations of US$12.6 million, or US$0.55 per diluted share, on revenues of US$90.1 million for the quarter ended 31 December 2009. Continuing operations include the company's ceramic proppant, software, consulting services, spill prevention and containment, and geotechnical monitoring businesses.
President and CEO Gary Kolstad commented: "We are pleased with the overall quarterly results, and especially with the economic success our customers are realizing by increasingly using our high conductivity ceramic proppants in the oil and gas shale plays. While the fourth quarter worldwide rig count was down 29 percent year-over-year, our overall global proppant volumes were only down 5 percent. Currently all of our plants are producing at capacity. The growth of the resource plays and the increasing desire to maximize conductivity continue to have a positive effect on the demand for our product offerings.
"As we indicated in our remarks last quarter, we expected our fourth quarter proppant deliveries to be modestly lower due to the holidays as compared to our strong third quarter results. However, our proppant sales orders accelerated exiting the fourth quarter, while pricing improved slightly, and this gives us confidence going into 2010. Separately, during the fourth quarter we incurred costs associated with the substantially completed integration of our recently acquired business, Falcon Technologies. We are excited about the growth prospects for this business and are seeing increased customer acceptance of this technology in the resource plays."
Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2009 decreased 15 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2008. The company's worldwide proppant sales volume totalled 278 million pounds for the fourth quarter of 2009, representing a year-over-year decrease of 5 percent. Proppant sales volume for the fourth quarter declined in the North American and International markets year-over-year, following a 40 percent and 7 percent decline in rig count, respectively.
Operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2009 decreased $11.6 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2008. Revenue decreases, resulting from decreases in volume and average selling price experienced during the fourth quarter of 2009, were partially offset by decreases in cost of sales, which was positively affected by lower raw material and natural gas costs. Selling, general, administrative and other operating expenses for the fourth quarter of 2009 decreased $1.2 million on a year-over-year basis.
Income from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of 2009 decreased $7.9 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2008.
Gary Kolstad commented on the outlook for the company stating: "We continue to see increasing demand for our products and services and an expanding customer base that has recognized the benefits of Economic Conductivity™. Our commitment to investing in proppant manufacturing capacity remains unchanged, and we expect completion of the third line at our Toomsboro, Georgia plant near the end of 2010. We remain dedicated to new product development across all our businesses. We are opening up new Falcon Technologies locations in certain resource plays due to customer demand and acceptance for our containment and spill prevention products and services. The oil and gas industry experienced a positive trend in drilling activity during the fourth quarter of 2009, which makes us more optimistic about our business in 2010 than we were last year; however, we, like others, remain prudently cautious about the economy and natural gas fundamentals. The increased trend of horizontal drilling and the economic success our customers are achieving by using our high conductivity ceramic proppant bring confidence to our 2010 outlook."
www.carboceramics.com
ENDS