Matthews International Announces Third Quarter Earnings And Declares Quarterly Dividend

PITTSBURGH, July 22, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Matthews International Corporation (Nasdaq:MATW) today announced earnings for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2010. Net income for the Company's fiscal 2010 third quarter was $20,411,000, or $0.68 per share, compared to $18,068,000, or $0.60 per share, for the third fiscal quarter a year ago. The fiscal 2010 third quarter included a favorable adjustment of $0.02 per share related to the closure of certain prior income tax periods. The fiscal 2009 third quarter results included unusual charges of $0.03 per share, which primarily consisted of costs related to the consolidation of certain production operations within the Company's Bronze segment, cost structure initiatives in certain of the Company's other businesses and asset adjustments.

Consolidated sales for the quarter ended June 30, 2010 were $213,329,000, compared to $192,047,000 in the same quarter a year ago, representing an increase of 11.1%. All of the Company's segments reported higher sales for the current quarter. Higher unit volumes in several segments and the impact of recent acquisitions were significant factors in the sales improvement. Operating profit for the three months ended June 30, 2010 was $34,514,000, compared to $29,810,000 for the third quarter last year. Operating profit for the current quarter included an increase in pension costs of $1,300,000 compared to a year ago. Operating profit for the fiscal 2009 third quarter included approximately $2,100,000 (pre-tax) of the unusual charges noted above. The increase in operating profit from a year ago primarily reflected the benefit of higher sales and the favorable impact of the Company's fiscal 2009 cost structure initiatives.

Net income for the nine months ended June 30, 2010 was $49,338,000, or $1.64 per share, compared to $42,099,000, or $1.38 per share, for the same period last year. Fiscal 2010 included the favorable income tax adjustment of $0.02 per share noted above. Earnings for the first nine months last year were negatively affected by unusual items of $0.24 per share, which consisted of unusual charges of $0.28 per share offset partially by favorable income tax adjustments of $0.04 per share. Last year's unusual charges primarily represented costs related to the consolidation of certain production operations within the Company's Bronze segment, cost structure initiatives in certain of the Company's other businesses and asset adjustments.