BUFFALO, NEW YORK (July 18, 2000) – Gibraltar (Nasdaq: ROCK) today reported its sales and earnings for the quarter ended June 30, 2000, both of which were best-ever quarterly results. The Company also said it expected that 2000 will be its ninth straight year of record sales and earnings.
In the second quarter, sales increased by 13 percent to $181.5 million, compared to sales of $160.2 million in the second quarter of 1999. Sales in the first six months of 2000 were $349.2 million, an increase of 15 percent from $304 million in the first half of 1999. Net income in the second quarter increased by eight percent to $7.9 million, or $.62 per diluted share, compared to $7.3 million, or $.57 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 1999. During the first six months of 2000, net income was $13.9 million, or $1.09 per diluted share, an increase of 13 percent from $12.3 million, or $.96 per diluted share, in the first half of 1999. “This was another outstanding quarter for Gibraltar,” said Brian J. Lipke, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “While many of the companies in our sector will report significant sales and/or earnings declines, we continue to generate solid top and bottom line growth. Clearly, the steps we have taken to make Gibraltar a stronger and more consistent performer by serving a greater number and diversity of markets – and by continuing to move into higher value-added, higher-margin activities like building products and commercial heat treating – are paying off. “Our Milcor acquisition, which we announced yesterday, is another important step in this process. More than half of our revenue will now come from the sale of manufactured end products (compared to 14 percent of sales in 1993). Manufactured end products generally carry higher and more consistent margins. “As a result of the Milcor acquisition, we now have annualized revenue of approximately $750 million. If our existing operations meet our ten percent annual growth target – which we believe is a readily attainable goal, since we estimate that we can increase our annual sales by $250-$300 million just by running our existing equipment around the clock – we now have the pieces in place to reach our $1 billion sales goal by 2003. “The Milcor acquisition was our fourteenth in the last five years, and our tenth in the last 28 months. We will continue to be very selective and only acquire those companies that meet our strict acquisition criteria, which includes having established records of profitability and growth,” said Mr. Lipke. “While top-line growth is clearly an important goal for our company, our primary focus has always been on increasing profitability and investing in the future. To that end, we are moving on a number of fronts to maximize asset utilization, continually strive for yield and productivity improvements, and aggressively look for ways to improve our operating efficiency. Two of our recent e-Commerce initiatives – the hiring of Xpedior (Nasdaq: XPDR) to help us develop and implement a comprehensive eBusiness strategy, and our strategic alliance with FerrousExchange – are important tools in this area. We are also evaluating a number of possible strategic alliances in our building products area,” said Mr. Lipke. “Even though growth in some parts of the economy seems to be slowing, we continued to see strong demand from most parts of our business during the second quarter. Looking ahead to the balance of the year, the analysts who follow our company expect that our 2000 sales will exceed $700 million, and our diluted earnings per share will be in the range of $2.05 to $2.10. We are comfortable with those estimates, and confident that 2000 will be our ninth straight year of record sales and earnings,” said Mr. Lipke. Gibraltar is a growth-oriented company, with expanding operations in the building and construction products, metal processing, and commercial heat-treating markets. The Company serves approximately 10,000 customers in a variety of industries. It has approximately 3,600 employees and operates 52 facilities in 19 states and Mexico. Information contained in this release, other than historical information, should be considered forward-looking, and may be subject to a number of risk factors, including: the impact of changing steel prices on the Company’s results of operations; changing demand for the Company’s products; risks associated with the integration of acquisitions; and changes in interest or tax rates.