TOR Minerals International Inc. (TORM)

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TOR Minerals Announces Second Quarter 2008 Financial Results
Date : 08/07/2008 @ 4:05PM
Source : PR Newswire
Stock : Tor Minerals International (MM) (TORM)
Quote : 1.42 0.0 (0.00%) @ 11:40AM


TOR Minerals Announces Second Quarter 2008 Financial Results

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, Aug. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TOR Minerals International (NASDAQ:TORM), producer of synthetic titanium dioxide, color pigments, specialty aluminas, and other high performance mineral fillers, today announced its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2008. The company reported a net loss available to common shareholders of ($353,000), or ($0.04) per diluted share, on net sales of $6,916,000 for the quarter ended June 30, 2008. This compares with net income available to common shareholders of $67,000, or $0.01 per share, on net sales of $7,281,000 for the quarter ended June 30, 2007.

Net sales for the six months ended June 30, 2008, was $13,662,000 compared to $14,434,000 during the six-month period ended June 30, 2007. The net loss available to common shareholders was ($957,000), or ($0.12) per diluted share, for the six months ended June 30, 2008 compared to net income of $91,000, or $0.01 per share, for the same period a year ago.

Net sales decreased five percent during the second quarter due to decreases in both HITOX(R) and specialty alumina sales. Specialty alumina sales were 10.1 percent less than second quarter 2007, which reflected a change in the order pattern of a significant U.S. customer. Sales of specialty alumina products in Europe, which accounted for 82 percent of total alumina sales, increased 41 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2008 and kept pace with the growth experienced in the last several quarters. Second quarter 2008 sales of HITOX declined by 5 percent versus the same period a year ago, as weakness in the North American market was only partially offset by growth in Asia.

As previously announced, the company instituted several production and logistics changes, including the completion of its newest powder treatment center in Malaysia. "By upgrading the production technologies at our Malaysian plant and making production and logistics changes, we have been able to offset about half of the significant cost increases we've experienced during the first six months of 2008," said Dr. Olaf Karasch, CEO of TOR Minerals. "We expect the benefits of these changes to be fully realized during the remainder of the year. Combined with the price increases we've recently implemented, we expect to offset most of the increase in costs."

The company announced that it has received its first full production order for its new TIOPREM(R) colored pigment products. A full production order is a substantive order received from a customer after a limited trial production period. "There are now close to 100 customers testing TIOPREM, several of which have made successful trial production runs. As more customers complete their testing, we expect TIOPREM to become a major contributor to revenue growth," commented Dr. Karasch.

The company said that as of June 30, 2008, it is in technical violation of certain coverage ratios in its long-term credit facility. The company is currently negotiating with the lending bank to resolve this issue. As a result, the company's long-term debt has been reclassified to short-term debt. The company is diligently working to bring its ratios back into compliance.

TOR Minerals will host a conference call at 4:00 p.m. Central Time on August 7, 2008 to discuss second quarter results. The call will be simultaneously webcast, and can be accessed via the News section on the company's website at http://www.torminerals.com/. Interested parties may also access the conference call via telephone by dialing 877-407-9210.





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