LianDi Clean Technology Inc. Reports Financial Results for Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2011

BEIJING, Feb. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- LianDi Clean Technology Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: LNDT), ("LianDi" or the "Company"), a leading provider of clean technology, downstream flow equipment, engineering services and software to China's leading petroleum and petrochemical companies, today announced financial results for the third fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2010.

SUMMARY FINANCIALS

The Company reported revenue of $48.1 million, an increase of 186.0%, compared to revenue of $16.8 million generated in the same period of fiscal year 2010. Growth was driven by a significant increase in integrated equipment sales and optimization software. During the third quarter, the Company performed equipment installation work on 30 projects compared to 11 projects in the same period in 2009. The Company reported $8.4 million in software sales during the quarter, which was related to a partial installation related to the $12 million contract signed with PetroChina in August 2010. The acquisition of Anhui Jucheng Fine Chemicals Co., Ltd. ("Anhui Jucheng") that occurred during the second quarter of fiscal 2011 contributed $6.8 million to third quarter fiscal 2011 sales. LianDi signed approximate $30 million in total new orders during the third quarter of fiscal 2011. Excluding sales from Anhui Jucheng, which were not present in fiscal 2010, revenues grew by 145.8% compared to the quarter ended December 31, 2009. Total backlog at December 31, 2010 was $47 million compared to $36 million on December 31, 2009.

Gross profit was $8.7 million and gross margins were 18.2% for the quarter ended December 31, 2010, compared to $5.4 million and 32.4%, respectively, for the same period in 2009. Excluding Anhui Jucheng, LianDi's gross margins were 20%. The level of overall gross margin was mainly affected by the relative percentage of separate software sales and technical services volume for each reporting period and the overall average gross margin of our equipment sales and installation projects completed for each reporting period. Given the variance in the product mix, margins will fluctuate on a quarter by quarter basis.

Operating expenses for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 were approximately $2.2 million, compared to $0.6 million in the same period in 2009 due to increases in freight, marketing, research and development expenses, salary, traveling expenses, and share-based compensation expenses. As a component of operating expenses, selling expenses were $1.5 million compared to $0.3 million in the third fiscal quarter of 2010. General and administrative expenses were $0.7 million for the quarter compared to $0.3 million for the same period in 2009.

GAAP net income available to common stockholders for the third quarter of 2011 totaled $6.1 million. Adjusted net income available to common stockholders for the third quarter of fiscal 2011, excluding a $1.06 million deemed preferred stock dividend, was approximately $7.2 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, based on weighted average shares outstanding of 36.6 million, compared to $4.6 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, based on weighted average shares outstanding of 27.4 million in the same period last year.

"We delivered a strong quarter across each of our major businesses segments," began Mr. Jianzhong Zuo, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of LianDi. "Rising energy prices, enhanced exploration efforts, along with China's shortage of oil and petrochemical refining capacity, continue to drive robust demand for our products and services. We renewed several important equipment distribution contracts and signed a new exclusive distributor agreement with Ruhrmpumpen, a leading manufacturer of pumps located in Witten, Germany, which allows us to expand into the $1.5 billion pump solutions market. "

"In addition, we formed a new software subsidiary, HongTeng WeiTong Technology., Ltd. ("Hong Teng"), to develop new software solutions for petrochemicals manufacturers. Led by Dr. Jian Feng, who has nearly 20 years of industry experience, Hong Teng will help solidify the innovation and product pipeline for this high margin business."

Nine Month FY 2011 Results

For the first nine months of fiscal 2011, cost of sales increased 146.3% while gross profit rose 59.8%. Gross margins fell 820 basis points year-over-year to 21.6% due to lower software sales and the inclusion of Anhui Jucheng, which had a relatively lower gross margin.

Selling expenses and general and administrative expenses were $2.0 million and $2.5 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2011, respectively. Operating income was up 43.2% from the first nine months of fiscal 2010 to $17.0 million, while operating margins were 16.9% compared to 26.1% in the same period one year ago.

Net income available to common shareholders was $13.9 million compared to $11.3 million in the prior year period. Adjusted net income, excluding the $3.0 million deemed preferred stock dividend, was $16.9 million, 49.3% higher than net income during the first nine months of fiscal 2010. GAAP diluted earnings per share were $0.46 and $0.41 for the first nine months of 2010 and 2009, respectively. Adjusted diluted earnings per share were $0.50 and $0.41 for the first nine months of 2010 and 2009, respectively.

Balance Sheet and Cash Flow

As of December 31, 2010, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $41.0 million, compared to $59.2 million at March 31, 2010.  The decline reflects approximately $8.4 million of prepayments to suppliers. The Company had total stockholders' equity of $70.4 million at December 31, 2010, including $5.7 million of non-controlling interest, which represents the 49% interest of Anhui Jucheng. The current ratio was 3.2 with working capital of $65.0 million on December 31, 2010.  Cash used for operations was $18.0 million through the first nine months of fiscal 2011 due to an approximate $24.5 million increase in accounts receivable and bills receivable, $12.4 million of which has been collected subsequent to December 31, 2010.

Fiscal year 2011 Guidance

For fiscal year 2011, management reaffirmed revenue guidance of $130 million, representing year-over-year growth of 40.2% over fiscal 2010, and net income guidance of approximately $25 million for fiscal year 2011, representing year-over-year growth of approximately 40%. Management expects software and the related technical service sales to contribute 8-10% of total revenues for fiscal year 2011. Guidance does not include any contribution from the oil sludge cleaning business. This is the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change. The Company had 28 contracts with an aggregate value of $47 million in backlog at December 31, 2010.

Business Outlook

LianDi has served the Chinese petroleum and petrochemical industries since 2004 and has established relationships with international industrial equipment manufacturers, such as Cameron, DeltaValve and Poyam Valves. LianDi is one of the few domestic companies able to provide localized services for international companies lacking local offices in China. As a result of the Company's thorough understanding of the domestic market and customers' needs, it is able to meet the high standards and requirements set by its petroleum and petrochemical customers in China. Along with the rapid growth of the petroleum and petrochemical industries and fixed assets investments within these industries, LianDi has successfully increased the size and scope of projects performed for customers since 2009. The successful implementation of contracts and the ability to leverage proven technology and industry solutions to optimize services will drive revenue and earnings growth for 2011.

The newly acquired majority owned subsidiary, Anhui Jucheng, produces and sells Polyacrylamide, an industrial chemical which is utilized in the following areas: (1) tertiary oil recovery; (2) wastewater, organic wastewater disposal and sewage treatments; (3) auxiliary for papermaking industry; and (4) flocculent for river water treatments.  Management expects strong top line growth in this business and higher operating margins as the Company begins direct sales over the next year, thereby eliminating the cost of using third party distributors. Management expects to achieve normalized gross margins of 10% to 15% to be achieved by the end of 2011. Anhui Jucheng achieved a 7.7% gross margin for the period from July 5, 2010 through December 31, 2010.

As previously announced, LianDi has an exclusive alliance with System Kikou Co., Ltd. ("SKK") in Japan, one of the world's leading automated oil sludge treatment companies, to offer SKK's automated sludge treatment services to oil refiners in China. The PRC government recently mandated automated cleaning technologies to be used in all oil refiners in China starting on July 1, 2010 in order to improve the safety of refining operations. Management estimates the addressable market of approximately $120 million, growing at about 7% per annum. Currently, less than 20% of Chinese oil refineries use automated cleaning technologies compared to 80%-90% in developed countries. LianDi intends to purchase the equipment and provide ongoing services for its customers, creating a recurring business. LianDi projects revenues of $3.5 million and net income of $1.5 million during the first twelve months after the initial order is shipped in May 2011, with a further acceleration in the following year.

Conference Call

The conference call will take place at 10:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, February 22, 2011. Interested participants should call 1-877-941-8416 when calling within the United States or 1-480-629- 9808 when calling internationally (passcode 4414430).

This conference call will be broadcast live over the Internet and can be accessed by all interested parties by clicking on this link: http://viavid.net/dce.aspx?sid=000081C8 or visiting http://www.viavid.net, where the webcast can be accessed through March 1, 2011.

A playback will be available through March 1, 2011. To listen, please call 1-877-870-5176 within the United States or 1-858-384-5517 when calling internationally (passcode 4414430).

About LianDi Clean Technology Inc.

LianDi was established in July 2004 to serve the largest Chinese petroleum and petrochemical companies. Through its four operating subsidiaries, Hua Shen Trading (International) Ltd., Petrochemical Engineering Ltd., Bright Flow Control Ltd. and Beijing JianXin Petrochemical Engineering Ltd., the Company distributes a wide range of customized valves and equipment and provides associated value-added technical and integration service. The Company also develops and markets proprietary optimization software for the polymerization process. In addition, LianDi is focused on the large, rapidly growing, clean technology market for oil refineries, projected to reach over $1 billion in the next 10 years. This market is expected to benefit from favorable Chinese government policies, including tax benefits and other incentives.

About Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement the unaudited condensed consolidated statement of income and comprehensive income presented in accordance with Accounting Principles Generally Accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"), we also provided non-GAAP measures of net income available to common stockholders and the basic and diluted earnings per shares for the three months ended December 31, 2010, which are adjusted from results based on GAAP to exclude the non-cash charges recorded, which related to the escrow share arrangement allocated to the Series A preferred stock, treated as a deemed dividend, a deduction of net income available to common stockholders in conjunction to the private placement we consummated on February 26, 2010.  The non-GAAP financial measures are provided to enhance the investors' overall understanding of our current performance in on-going core operations as well as prospects for the future. These measures should be considered in addition to results prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP, but should not be considered a substitute for or superior to GAAP results.  We use both GAAP and non-GAAP information in internally evaluating and operating our business and therefore deem it important to provide all of this information to investors.

The following table provides the non-GAAP financial measure and the related GAAP measure and provides a reconciliation of the non-GAAP measure to the equivalent GAAP measure.

This press release may contain certain "forward-looking statements" relating to the business of LianDi and its subsidiary companies. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included herein, are "forward-looking statements" including statements regarding: the impact of the proceeds from the private placement on the Company's short term business and operations; the general ability of the Company to achieve its commercial objectives, including the ability of the Company to sustain growth; the business strategy, plans and objectives of the Company and its subsidiaries; and any other statements of non-historical information. These forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects" or similar expressions, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those discussed in the Company's periodic reports that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on its website (http://www.sec.gov )