Schulman Reports Q2 Earnings; Shares Jump 6%

Schulman SHLM announced its second quarter earnings for fiscal 2014 ended February 28, 2014. Shares of the company shot up 6.31 percent or $2.29 per share in after-hours trading with shareholders jumping with joy following the earnings release.

Net income from continuing operations for the second quarter was $6.5 million or $0.22 per diluted share.

Adjusted net income from continuing operations for the second quarter stood at $11.3 million or $0.39 per diluted share. This gain represents a 39 percent improvement when compared to the prior-year’s quarter.

Shareholders were very happy when the company raised its full-year fiscal 2014 net income guidance to $2.23 to $2.28 per diluted share.

For the fiscal 2014 second quarter, net sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa increased 11.9 percent when compared to the prior year’s second quarter

CEO, Chairman and President, Joseph M. Gingo, commented, “"Our strong second-quarter financial results reflect sustained operational improvements combined with the benefits of our acquisition strategy. The dedicated work of our European associates related to operational efficiencies and restructuring initiatives took full advantage of the modest volume improvements over the past two quarters to drive stronger profits.

"At the same time, we continue to benefit from our aggressive acquisition strategy and gained solid contributions from our bolt-on acquisitions this quarter, which exceeded our expectations. This combination is adding excitement to what we believe will be a strong 2014 for A. Schulman."

In addition, Chief Operating Officer, Bernard Rzepka, continued, “I am very pleased that our European team has been able to capitalize on strengthening demand, especially in the automotive and electronics & electrical markets. In the Americas, I am encouraged that organic net sales in the region remained consistent with the prior year despite an 8.2% drop in organic volume and negative foreign currency headwinds in Latin America.

"Volume was, of course, impacted by the severe winter weather in the United States, but also by the Company's continuous strategy to reduce less-profitable commodity sales. In Asia Pacific (APAC), the addition of our Perrite Group's Malaysian facility has led to significant growth and provides us with solid engineered plastics operations in Southeast Asia. Additionally, we are seeing organic growth across all product families in the region, as well as a stabilization of gross margins on a sequential basis. APAC is a key strategic market for us, and we are pleased with our progress in the region."