KEMET Reports First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2011 Results

GREENVILLE, S.C., July 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- KEMET Corporation (NYSE Amex: KEM) today reported preliminary results for the first fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2010.  Net sales for the quarter ended June 30, 2010 were $243.8 million, which is a 62.3% increase over the same quarter last fiscal year and a 14.5% increase over the prior fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2010.

On a U.S. GAAP basis, the net loss was $20.1 million, or $(0.25) per basic and diluted share for the first quarter of fiscal year 2011 compared to net income of $25.1 million or $0.31 per basic and diluted share for the same quarter last year and compared to net income of $0.3 million or $0.00 per basic and diluted share for the prior fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2010.  The current fiscal quarter includes a $38.2 million non-cash loss on early extinguishment of debt and $1.8 million of restructuring charges primarily associated with the relocation of equipment.  Conversely, the first quarter of fiscal year 2010 included a $38.9 million non-cash gain on early extinguishment of debt.  

Non-GAAP Adjusted net income was $22.3 million or $0.28 per basic share and $0.15 per diluted share for the current fiscal quarter compared to an Adjusted net loss of $10.3 million, or $(0.13) per basic and diluted share for the same quarter last year and compared to an Adjusted net income of $8.8 million, or $0.11 per basic share and $0.06 per diluted share for the prior fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2010.  

"It was a great quarter as we saw our revenue return to pre-recession levels and our gross margins increase significantly," said Per Loof, KEMET's Chief Executive Officer.  "Our efforts to improve operating efficiencies, maintain our cost controls established over the past year, reestablish a strong Balance Sheet, and our ability to meet the strong volume demands of our customers have combined to drive our financial results," continued Loof.

About KEMET

As announced on June 21, 2010, the Company's common stock was approved for listing on the NYSE Amex. Trading commenced on the NYSE Amex on Tuesday, June 22, 2010 under the ticker symbol 'KEM' (NYSE Amex: KEM).  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.

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 gain/loss on early extinguishment of debt, ERP integration costs, restructuring charges related primarily to equipment moves and employee severance, gain/loss on sales and disposals of assets, and amortization related to debt issuance costs and debt discount.  Management believes that these Non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors because they provide a supplemental way to 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:

QUIET PERIOD

Beginning October 1, 2010, we will observe a quiet period during which the information provided in this news release and our quarterly report on Form 10-Q 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 principle raw materials; (iv) changes in  the competitive environment of the Company; (v) uncertainty of the timing of customer product qualifications in heavily regulated industries; (vi) economic, political, or regulatory changes in the countries in which the Company operates; (vii) difficulties, delays or unexpected costs in completing the Company's restructuring plan; (viii) the ability to attract, train and retain effective employees and management; (ix) the ability to develop innovative products to maintain customer relationships; (x) the impact of environmental issues, laws, and regulations; (xi) volatility of financial and credit markets which would affect the Company's access to capital; (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; and (xvi) exercise of the warrant by K Equity, LLC may result in the existence of a controlling stockholder.

Adjusted EBITDA-Non-GAAP Financial Measure

Adjusted EBITDA represents net income/loss before income tax expense, interest expense, and depreciation and amortization expense, adjusted to exclude restructuring charges, share-based compensation expense, loss on sales and disposals of assets, loss on early extinguishment of debt, ERP integration costs, 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 to 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 loss to Adjusted EBITDA (amounts in thousands):

SOURCE KEMET Corporation