KEMET Exceeds Previously Announced Fourth Quarter Forecast

GREENVILLE, S.C., May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

• Net sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2010 were $213.0 million compared to $199.9 million for the third quarter of fiscal year 2010 up by 6.5%.
• Gross margin as a percentage of net sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2010 was 20.2% compared to 18.2% for the third quarter of fiscal year 2010
• Non-GAAP adjusted net income per basic share of $0.11 and $0.06 per diluted share
• Cash flow from operations for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2010 was $18.7 million
• Adjusted EBITDA of $25.4 million

KEMET Corporation (Other OTC: KEME) today reported preliminary results for the fourth fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2010.  Net sales for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 were $213.0 million, which is a 56.6% increase over the same quarter last fiscal year and a 6.5% increase over the prior fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2009.

On a U.S. GAAP basis, net income was $0.3 million, or $0.00 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2010 compared to net income of $2.4 million or $0.03 per diluted share for the same quarter last year (which included a curtailment gain of $30.8 million) and compared to net loss of $1.8 million or $(0.02) per share for the prior fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2009.  

Non-GAAP adjusted net income was $8.8 million or $0.06 per diluted share for the current fiscal quarter compared to an adjusted net loss of $20.1 million, or $(0.24) per share for the same quarter last year and compared to an adjusted net income of $4.0 million, or $0.03 per diluted share for the prior fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2009.   Adjusted EBITDA for the current quarter was $25.4 million compared to the company's forecast of $22.0 to $25.0 million released on April 8, 2010.

"We continued to make great progress operationally again this quarter by increasing our gross margins and generating substantial cash from operations," stated Per Loof, KEMET's Chief Executive Officer. "Our efforts to refinance our Balance Sheet were completed recently moving our debt maturities substantially into the future.  The operating results and improved cash flows combined with our repositioned debt structure are allowing us to proceed on schedule with the restructuring of our European business.  During the course of this restructuring effort, the company expects to spend approximately $35 million to $40 million to reposition our European manufacturing base. Our expectation is an improvement in our European operating results by approximately $10 million in fiscal year 2011 compared to fiscal year 2010, and to improve approximately $42 million in fiscal year 2012 versus fiscal year 2010.  In total, we expect this business that has been contributing an average negative ($6.0) million adjusted EBITDA per quarter during fiscal year 2010, to contribute approximately a positive $6.0 million adjusted EBITDA per quarter in the period beginning April 2012," continued Loof.

The current fiscal quarter includes $6.6 million of restructuring charges primarily associated with reductions in force of $5.4 million and $1.2 million related to the relocation of equipment.  The current fiscal quarter also includes a gain on sales and disposals of assets of $1.5 million related to proceeds from the sale of wet tantalum assets to Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. which were released from escrow.  

In this news release, the Company makes reference to certain Non-GAAP financial measures, including "Adjusted net income (loss)", "Adjusted net income (loss) per share" and "Adjusted EBITDA".  Management believes that investors may find it useful to review the Company's financial results as adjusted to exclude items as determined by management.  "Adjusted net income (loss)" and "Adjusted net income (loss) per share" represent net income (loss) and net income (loss) per share excluding an increase in value of warrant which relates to the mark-to-market adjustment for the Platinum Closing Warrants, gain/loss on early extinguishment of debt, impairment charges associated with goodwill and long-lived assets, integration costs related to business acquisitions, restructuring charges related primarily to employee severance and equipment moves, certain inventory adjustments, sales or disposals of assets, amortization related to debt issuance costs and debt discount, a non-cash charge related to the cancellation of an employee incentive plan, pension plan curtailment gains, and the write off of capitalized advisor fees.  Management believes that these Non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors because they provide a supplemental way to possibly better understand the underlying operating performance of the Company.  Management uses these Non-GAAP financial measures to evaluate operating performance.  Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as an alternative to net income, operating income or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP.    

The following table provides reconciliation from GAAP net income (loss) to Non-GAAP adjusted net income (loss):

About KEMET

KEMET's common stock is listed on the OTC Bulletin Board and on the Pink OTC Markets, Inc., Pink Quote System under the symbol, "KEME". At the Investor Relations section of our web site at http://www.KEMET.com/IR, users may subscribe to KEMET news releases and find additional information about our Company.  KEMET applies world class service and quality to deliver industry leading, high performance capacitance solutions to its customers around the world and offers the world's most complete line of surface mount and through hole capacitor technologies across tantalum, ceramic, film, aluminum, electrolytic, and paper dielectrics. Additional information about KEMET can be found at http://www.kemet.com.

QUIET PERIOD

Beginning July 1, 2010, we will observe a quiet period during which the information provided in this news release and our annual report on Form 10-K will no longer constitute our current expectations. During the quiet period, this information should be considered to be historical, applying prior to the quiet period only and not subject to update by management. The quiet period will extend until the day when our next quarterly earnings release is published.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements included herein contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws about KEMET Corporation's (the "Company") financial condition and results of operations that are based on management's current expectations, estimates and projections about the markets, in which the Company operates, as well as management's beliefs and assumptions. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," variations of such words and other similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's judgment only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any of these forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events or otherwise.

Factors that may cause actual outcome and results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements include, but are not necessarily limited to the following: (i) continued uncertainty of the economy could impact the Company's ability to realize operating plans if the demand for the Company's products declines and could adversely affect the Company's liquidity and ability to continue to operate; (ii) adverse economic conditions could cause further reevaluation and the write down of long-lived assets; (iii) an increase in the cost or a decrease in the availability of the Company's principal raw materials; (iv) changes in  the competitive environment of the Company; (v) economic, political, or regulatory changes in the countries in which the Company operates; (vi) difficulties, delays or unexpected costs in completing the restructuring plan of the Company; (vii) the ability to attract, train and retain effective employees and management; (viii) the ability to develop innovative products to maintain customer relationships; (ix) the impact of environmental issues, laws, and regulations; (x) volatility of financial and credit markets which would affect the Company's access to capital; (xi) increased difficulty or expense in accessing capital because of the delisting of the Company's common stock from the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE"); (xii) exposure to foreign exchange gains and losses; (xiii) need to reduce costs to offset downward price trends; (xiv) potential limitation on use of net operating losses to offset possible future taxable income; (xv) dilution as a result of the warrant held by K Equity, LLC; (xvi) exercise of the warrant by K Equity, LLC may result in the existence of a controlling stockholder; and (xvii) certain of the Company's capacitors are incorporated into products used in heavily regulated industries.

Adjusted EBITDA-Non-GAAP Financial Measure

Adjusted EBITDA represents net income (loss) before income tax expense, interest expense, net, and depreciation and amortization expense, adjusted to exclude restructuring charges, impairment write-downs, share-based compensation expense, increase in fair value of warrant, gain/loss on the disposal of assets, gain on the early extinguishment of debt, and foreign exchange transaction gain/loss.  We use Adjusted EBITDA to monitor and evaluate our operating performance and to facilitate internal and external comparisons of the historical operating performance of our business.  We present Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental measure of our performance and ability to service debt.  We also present Adjusted EBITDA because we believe such measure is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in our industry.

We believe Adjusted EBITDA is an appropriate supplemental measure of debt service capacity, because cash expenditures on interest are, by definition, available to pay interest, and tax expense is inversely correlated to interest expense because tax expense goes down as deductible interest expense goes up; depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges. The other items excluded from Adjusted EBITDA are excluded in order to better reflect our continuing operations.

In evaluating Adjusted EBITDA, you should be aware that in the future we may incur expenses similar to the adjustments noted below.  Our presentation of Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by these types of adjustments.  Adjusted EBITDA is not a measurement of our financial performance under U.S. GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to net income, operating income or any other performance measures derived in accordance with U.S. GAAP or as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities as a measure of our liquidity.

Our Adjusted EBITDA measure has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under U.S. GAAP.  Some of these limitations are:

• it does not reflect our cash expenditures, future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;

• it does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs;

• it does not reflect the significant interest expense or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payment on our debt;

• although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized will often have to be replaced in the future, and our Adjusted EBITDA measure does not reflect any cash requirements for such replacements;

• it is not adjusted for all non-cash income or expense items that are reflected in our statements of cash flows;

• it does not reflect the impact of earnings or charges resulting from matters we consider not be indicative of our ongoing operations;

• it does not reflect limitations on or costs related to transferring earnings from our subsidiaries to us; and

• other companies in our industry may calculate this measure differently than we do, limiting its usefulness as a comparative measure.

Because of these limitations, Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as a measure of discretionary cash available to us to invest in the growth of our business or as a measure of cash that will be available to us to meet our obligations.  You should compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on our U.S. GAAP results and using Adjusted EBITDA only supplementally.

The following table provides reconciliation from U.S. GAAP net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA (amounts in thousands):

SOURCE KEMET Corporation