Business News
Shiner International Announces First Quarter 2009 Results, Recent Increase in Sales; Annual Meeting of Shareholders to Be Held June 5th
Friday 15. May 2009 - Shiner International, Inc. (NASDAQ:BEST), an emerging global supplier of anti-counterfeiting and advanced packaging products, today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2009.
Financial Summary
— Total revenue of $7.1 million versus $11.28 million in Q1 2008
— Net loss of $275,013 compared to net income $1.56 million in Q1 2008
— Gross profit of $0.47 million compared to $2.54 million in Q1 2008
— Earnings per share of ($0.01) compared to $0.06 in Q1 2008
Revenues and Earnings
Shiner’s revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2009 decreased by 37.3% compared to the same period last year, while the Company’s net income decreased 117.6% for the year to year period. The decreases were directly related to decreases in sales in the Company’s various business lines — down 6.6% in tobacco BOPP, 26.2% in coated film, 45.3% in anti-counterfeit film, and 80.6% color printing, coupled with a decrease in the sale prices of its products. Shiner’s margins were negatively impacted by the opening of a new facility in Zhuhai, although the Company believes that the current costs associated with the opening of this facility will be outweighed by its long-term benefits.
The decrease in sales year over year was attributable to two major events during the latter part of 2008 — the global economic financial crisis and melamine milk scare, which affected the entire packaged food industry in China. As a result of the decrease in sales caused by these unforeseen events, Shiner was overstocked in a number of raw materials that were purchased at higher prices in the third and fourth quarters of 2008. The Company has, during the first four months of 2009, depleted these reserves and is currently taking advantage of lower pricing capabilities to restock these raw materials.
Shiner is currently seeing an increase in sales across most of its business lines and believes that the melamine crisis has been contained. The Company believes that this trend will continue going forward. Further, the Company believes its results of operations will be positively impacted by the recent opening of its new plant in Zhuhai. This facility contains state-of- the-art technology that is expected to increase our operational efficiencies and lower our unit cost. The Zhuhai plant began operating on a trial basis in 2008 and went fully operational on April 2, 2009.
Management Comments
Jian Fu, Shiner’s Chief Executive Officer said, “although the first quarter was economically challenging for us, we have recently seen positive signs from our major clients. The market is recovering faster than we thought and we believe the implementation of the recently enacted China Food Safety Law beginning in June will attract new clients to us. We see tremendous opportunity for us going forward.” Jian Fu continued, “we are also beginning to see signs of growth in new markets, including the United States and Canada. We provide high quality coated film at competitive prices as compared to major US coated film producers. Our international sales have great potential.”
2009 Annual Meeting of Shareholders
The Company announced that its 2009 annual meeting of shareholders will be held in the offices of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, located at Two Liberty Place, 50 S. 16th Street, Suite 3200, Philadelphia, PA 19102, on June 5, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. April 17, 2009 has been established as the record date for determining the shareholders eligible to vote at the annual meeting. All shareholders are invited and encouraged to attend the meeting. Shiner currently expects that members of the Board of Directors, President Qingtao Xing, Corporate Secretary Feng Zou and members of Shiner’s Investor Relations department will be present to meet with shareholders.