Earnings Per Share Increases by 250% for the Quarter
QINGDAO, China and ROCKVILLE, Md., Feb. 12 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Synutra International, Inc. (Nasdaq: SYUT; "Synutra"), one of China's leading manufacturers of dairy-based nutritional products for infants, children and adults, today reported fiscal results for the third quarter ended December 31, 2007. The Company's strong operational and financial performance is detailed in its Form 10-Q, which was filed today with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Synutra International, Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Liang Zhang commented, "I am pleased to announce another strong quarter of profitable growth for Synutra. Highlighting the quarter's performance were strong sales in Synutra's major markets, as the demand for infant formula continues to soar throughout China. We increased our average selling prices during the period, as well as the volume of products that we sold. Our strong customer demand was enhanced primarily by the marketing initiatives that we built around TV advertising, targeted sales and promotional activities at the store level."
Chairman Zhang continued, "Synutra's high-quality products, customer service and extensive distribution network have enabled the Company to build strong brand recognition and customer loyalty in its major markets, which are primarily cities outside of China's well known urban centers. By leveraging our expertise in these markets, we have begun to expand the Synutra brand to major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chongquing and Tianjin, as well as China's provincial capital cities. These efforts, together with our continued commitment to the successful execution of our strategy, give us confidence that we will continue to capture growth, increase national market share and enable profitable performance."
Fiscal Third Quarter Ended December 31, 2007
Sales in the third quarter ended December 31, 2007 increased by $43.9 million, or 77.9%, to $100.2 million, compared to $56.3 million for the same three months in 2006. Gross profit increased by 79.8% to $50.6 million in the third quarter ended December 31, 2007, which amounts to 50.5% of sales. Third quarter net income increased by 283.6% to $11.2 million, compared to $2.9 million earned for the same period in 2006. Synutra earned $0.21 per share for the third quarter, a 250% increase from $0.06 earned in the prior year period.
Fiscal First Nine Months
Sales for the fiscal first nine months ended December 31, 2007 increased by $102.9 million, or 68.1%, to $253.9 million, compared to $151.0 million for the same period in 2006. Gross profit was $134.3 million, or 52.9% of sales, for the fiscal first nine months period. Fiscal first nine months net income increased by $10.5 million, or 66.5%, to $26.3 million, from $15.8 million earned for the same period in 2006. Synutra earned $0.50 per share for the fiscal first nine months, a 56.3% increase from $0.32 earned in the prior year period.
Synutra's 10-Q filing is available on-line: http://www.synutra.com
About Synutra International, Inc.
Synutra operates eight subsidiaries developing, producing, distributing and selling dairy-based nutritional products across the People's Republic of China. It offers its products for infants, children, adults and pregnant women and nursing mothers under the brand series of "Super," "U-Smart" and "U-Strong." The Group's extensive sales network covers 24 provinces, 264 cities and more than 1320 counties throughout China. For more information, please contact Weiguo Zhang of Synutra, Inc. (301 840 3888, wzhang@synutra.com), Brian Rafferty of Taylor Rafferty (212 889 4350, synutra@taylor-rafferty.com) or visit: http://www.synutra.com .
The information contained herein includes forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or to our future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects our current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. We assume no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. The safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 protects companies from liability for their forward-looking statements if they comply with the requirements of the Act.
