Portola Packaging Reports Record Fourth Quarter

Portola Packaging, Inc. reported record results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended August 31, 2001. Sales for the fourth quarter 2001 were a record $60.0 million compared to $57.6 million for the same quarter of the prior year, an increase of 4.2 percent. For fiscal year 2001, sales were a record $219.4 million compared to $208.9 million for fiscal year 2000, an increase of 5 percent. Operating income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001 increased to a record $6.4 million from $5.0 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2000, an increase of 28 percent. For the full fiscal year 2001, the company had record operating income of $11.9 million compared to operating income of $9.4 million for fiscal year 2000, an increase of 26.6 percent. The Company reported net income of $1.3 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001 compared to net income of $1.0 million for the same period of fiscal 2000. The company reported net income of $1.0 million for fiscal year 2001 compared to a net loss of $3.7 million in fiscal 2000.

During its fourth quarter of fiscal 2001, Portola adopted the Financial Accounting Standards Board's Emerging Issues Task Force Issue 00-10 regarding the accounting for freight reimbursed by or charged to customers. The effect of this accounting policy change was to increase revenue and cost of sales by $1.4 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2001, and by $1.6 million for the same quarter of the prior year. During fiscal year 2001 and fiscal year 2000, revenue and cost of sales increased by $5.1 million and $5.9 million, respectively.

EBITDA increased 11.9 percent to a record $12.2 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001 as compared to $10.9 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2000 and increased 34.9 percent to a record $40.2 million for fiscal 2001 from $29.8 million for fiscal 2000. Contributing to EBITDA for the fourth quarter and for the full fiscal year 2001 was the gain on the sale of real estate properties located in San Jose, California of $0.3 and $7.0 million, respectively. In addition, the Company recorded restructuring charges of approximately $1.9 million for fiscal 2001. Excluding the gain on the sale of real estate and the restructuring charges, EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2001 would have been $11.9 million, an increase of 9.2 percent over the same quarter of the prior year, and EBITDA for fiscal 2001 would have been $35.1 million, an increase of 17.8 percent over the same period in fiscal 2000.

Source: Businesswire