Net Income Declines for Bem

reported that its Q4 FY08 earnings fell 22.3%, hurt by volatile currency exchange rates and slow consumer spending. Net income for the latest fourth quarter declined to $33.21 million or $0.33 per share from $42.73 million or $0.42 per share in Q4 FY07. The latest quarterly earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.31 per share.

During Q4 FY08, revenue shrunk 4.9% to $867.87 million from $912.67 million in the year-ago quarter, primarily due to a 6.7% negative impact from unfavorable exchange rate translations and lower sales volumes in its pressure sensitive materials and display film product lines. Segment-wise, Flexible Packaging revenue, which accounted for 84.3% of total net sales, slipped 3.1% to $731.30 million from $754.80 million in Q4 FY07, largely due to a 6.9% drop in sales owing to unfavorable exchange rate translations and reduced sales volume for protective display films as well as packaging for industrial, confectionery and snack, pet food, and multipacks markets. Net sales from the Pressure Sensitive Materials segment plunged 13.4% to $136.60 million from $157.80 million in Q4 FY07, impacted by decreased sales volumes across product lines and a 5.7% negative impact from strengthening U.S. dollar.

Recently, the company's board paid a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.22 per share.

For FY08, Bemis net income declined 8.4% to $166.21 million from $181.55 million a year ago, while its total revenue inched up 3.6% to $3.78 billion from $3.65 billion in FY07.

Looking forward, the company expects its Q1 FY09 diluted earnings to range between $0.30 per share and $0.38 per share, and its full year 2009 earnings to be $1.50 per share to $1.70 per share. Furthermore, BMS expects its capital expenditure to be $100.00 million to $110.00 million.