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Cedar Falls, Iowa
June 27, 2001
Ag Services of America, Inc.
(NYSE:ASV) today announced that net revenues for the first
quarter of Fiscal 2002 increased 5.3% to $164.2 million as
compared to $155.8 million for the same period one year ago. Net
income for the first quarter of Fiscal 2002 was $1.8 million, or
$0.34 per diluted share. Net income was $3.1 million, or $0.57
per diluted share, for the first quarter of Fiscal 2001.
"Our Fiscal 2002 first quarter results were impacted by delays
in chemical and fertilizer sales due to wet weather conditions
in much of our primary market area," stated Brad Schlotfeldt,
Senior Executive Officer. "The cool and wet weather has delayed
the current crop-growing season approximately two to three weeks
compared to a normal planting season and roughly four to five
weeks behind last year's early crop season throughout our
primary market area. Wet and cool conditions in areas of North
Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, portions of Iowa and Nebraska
have caused producers to switch crop rotations and leave a small
percentage of acres unplanted. Declines in the prime lending
rate, which is the base rate we use to charge interest on a
variable rate basis to our customers, also impacted the first
quarter earnings. The decline in the prime lending rate has the
effect of reducing earnings on our invested capital. We do not
believe that first
quarter results will be indicative of our Fiscal year end
results."
In the first quarter of Fiscal 2002, revenues attributable to
Powerfarm increased four-fold to approximately $1.7 million as
compared to last year's level of $0.4 million. The impact on
earnings per share from Powerfarm was a loss of $0.03 per
diluted share for the first quarter of Fiscal 2002, as compared
to a loss $0.04 a diluted share, one year ago.
Looking forward, the Company anticipates that delayed first
quarter chemical and fertilizer sales will be realized in the
second quarter. In addition to the switching of crop rotations,
unplanted acres and the lower interest rate environment
discussed above, the Company also took a cautious and
conservative approach to credit approvals in Washington and
Idaho due to economic conditions involving the potato and apple
markets. This approach resulted in a higher than normal
rejection rate which reduced our volume in those states. Given
the effect of these items, the Company expects that fiscal year
revenues will increase in the range of 10 to 13% and earnings to
increase between 3 - 10% over prior year's levels.
Ag Services of America, Inc., which operates Powerfarm.com, is
based in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and is a leading supplier of input
financing and agricultural inputs, including seed, chemicals,
fertilizer and cash advances to primarily corn and soybean
growers in the U.S. The Company's one-stop shopping business
model includes competitive and flexible financing packages
through its AgriFlex Credit(R) program combined with the most
comprehensive offering of agricultural inputs from national
sources such as Asgrow, Aventis, BASF, Dekalb, Dow AgroSciences,
DuPont, Garst, Monsanto, Pioneer Hi-Bred, and Syngenta. The
Company also provides ancillary services such as crop insurance,
crop scouting and grain marketing.
AgriFlex Credit is a registered
trademark and Powerfarm.com and Powerfarm Credit are trademarks
of Ag Services of America, Inc. All other trademarks or product
names are the property of their respective owners. For more
information visit
www.agservices.com or
www.powerfarm.com.
Company news release
N3615 |
