Zoltek Reports Strong Growth In Third Quarter Sales

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 9, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zoltek Companies, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZOLT) today reported that net sales for the quarter ended June 30, 2010, totaled $42.4 million, compared to $30.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2009, an increase of 40%. On a sequential quarter basis, sales for the latest quarter increased $16.4 million, or 63%, from the second quarter of fiscal 2010.

For fiscal 2010's third quarter, Zoltek reported a net loss of $0.4 million, compared to a net loss of $1.4 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2009. In the second quarter of fiscal 2010, Zoltek incurred a net loss of $5.0 million.

For the first nine months of fiscal 2010, Zoltek's net sales were $97.3 million, compared to $104.9 million in the corresponding nine-month period of fiscal 2009, a decrease of 7%. For the first nine months of the current fiscal year, Zoltek reported a net loss of $5.9 million, compared to a net loss of $0.4 million in the corresponding nine-month period of fiscal 2009.

"As we have told our shareholders, we went into fiscal 2010 expecting a slow start and a strong finish. We are pleased to report that the strong finish began to materialize in the third quarter, as our sales were up substantially both from the third quarter of fiscal 2009 and from the second quarter of this year. Our operating results, particularly our gross margins, have not recovered along with our sales, as we continue to bear the costs of carrying unused capacity to attract new business, as well as higher costs for our primary raw material. We expect that our overall financial results will improve as the rebound in our sales continues and raw material prices moderate toward historical levels," Zsolt Rumy, Zoltek's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, observed.