WHIPPANY, N.J., Dec. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. (NYSE: SPH), a marketer of propane gas, fuel oil and related products and services nationwide, today announced an adjustment to previously released earnings for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended September 25, 2004 to reflect a non-cash pension charge. Previously reported cash flow from operating activities for the fourth quarter and full year ended September 25, 2004 remains unchanged.
During the course of finalizing the Partnership's footnote disclosures to be included in the consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended September 25, 2004, our principal actuarial firm advised that they had made an error in the computation of pension expense for fiscal 2004. The adjustment to pension expense represents a non-cash charge required to accelerate the recognition of a portion of the cumulative unrecognized actuarial losses related to the Partnership's defined benefit pension plan as a result of a higher level of lump sum retirement benefit payments made during fiscal 2004 compared to prior years.
The effect of the adjustment is to increase fiscal 2004 pension expense for a non-cash charge of $5.3 million, thus reducing previously reported net income for fiscal 2004 from $59.6 million, or $1.97 per Common Unit, to $54.3 million, or $1.79 per Common Unit, and increasing the fiscal 2004 fourth quarter net loss from $28.7 million, or $0.92 per Common Unit, to a net loss of $34.0 million, or $1.09 per Common Unit. The adjustment also decreases previously reported EBITDA for fiscal 2004 from $137.2 million to $131.9 million and increases the previously reported EBITDA loss of $7.6 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004 to a loss of $13.0 million.
Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. is a publicly traded Master Limited Partnership listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Headquartered in Whippany, New Jersey, Suburban has been in the customer service business since 1928. The Partnership serves the energy needs of approximately 1,000,000 residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural customers through more than 370 customer service centers in 30 states.
Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. and Subsidiaries
Consolidated Statements of Operations
For the Three and Twelve Months Ended September 25, 2004 and September 27,
2003
(in thousands, except per unit amounts)
(unaudited)
Three Months Ended Twelve Months Ended
September September September September
25, 2004 27, 2003 25, 2004 27, 2003
Revenues
Propane $143,694 $108,035 $856,109 $680,840
Fuel oil and refined
fuels 62,063 - 281,682 -
Natural gas and electricity 13,478 - 68,452 -
HVAC 23,080 9,890 92,072 46,938
All other 2,349 1,927 8,939 7,297
244,664 119,852 1,307,254 735,075
Costs and expenses
Cost of products sold 156,413 59,746 779,029 358,582
Operating 92,022 56,308 356,359 232,462
General and administrative 13,872 8,957 53,888 36,661
Restructuring costs 560 - 2,942 -
Pension settlement charge 5,337 - 5,337 -
Impairment of goodwill - - 3,177 -
Depreciation and
amortization 11,114 7,030 36,743 27,520
279,318 132,041 1,237,475 655,225
(Loss) income before and
interest expense provision
for income taxes (34,654) (12,189) 69,779 79,850
Interest expense, net 9,804 7,417 40,832 33,629
(Loss) income before
provision for income taxes (44,458) (19,606) 28,947 46,221
Provision for income taxes 120 99 3 202
(Loss) income from
continuing operations (44,578) (19,705) 28,944 46,019
Discontinued operations:
Gain on sale of customer
service centers 11,508 - 26,332 2,483
(Loss) income from
discontinued customer
service centers (940) (1,251) (972) 167
Net (loss) income $(34,010) $(20,956) $54,304 $48,669
General Partner's interest
in net (loss) income $(1,057) $(562) $1,310 $1,193
Limited Partners' interest
in net (loss) income $(32,953) $(20,394) $52,994 $47,476
(Loss) income from
continuing operations per
Common Unit - basic $(1.43) $(0.70) $0.96 $1.77
Net (loss) income per
Common Unit - basic $(1.09) $(0.75) $1.79 $1.87
Weighted average number of
Common Units outstanding
- basic 30,257 27,256 29,599 25,359
(Loss) income from
continuing operations per
Common Unit - diluted $(1.43) $(0.70) $0.96 $1.76
Net (loss) income per
Common Unit - diluted $(1.09) $(0.75) $1.78 $1.86
Weighted average number of
Common Units outstanding
- diluted 30,257 27,256 29,705 25,495
Supplemental Information:
EBITDA (a) $(12,972) $(6,410) $131,882 $110,020
Retail gallons sold:
Propane 85,976 78,961 537,330 491,451
Fuel oil and refined fuels 47,956 - 220,469 -
(a) EBITDA represents net income (loss) before deducting interest expense,
income taxes, depreciation and amortization. Our management uses
EBITDA as a measure of liquidity and we are including it because we
believe that it provides our investors and industry analysts with
additional information to evaluate our ability to meet our debt
service obligations and to pay our quarterly distributions to holders
of our Common Units. Moreover, our senior note agreements and our
revolving credit agreement require us to use EBITDA as a component in
calculating our leverage and interest coverage ratios. EBITDA is not
a recognized term under generally accepted accounting principles
("GAAP") and should not be considered as an alternative to net income
or net cash provided by operating activities determined in accordance
with GAAP. Because EBITDA, as determined by us, excludes some, but
not all, items that affect net income, it may not be comparable to
EBITDA or similarly titled measures used by other companies. The
following table sets forth (i) our calculation of EBITDA and (ii) a
reconciliation of EBITDA, as so calculated, to our net cash provided
by operating activities:
Three Months Ended Twelve Months Ended
September September September September
25, 2004 27, 2003 25, 2004 27, 2003
Net (loss) / income $(34,010) $(20,956) $54,304 $48,669
Add:
Provision for income taxes 120 99 3 202
Interest expense, net 9,804 7,417 40,832 33,629
Depreciation and
amortization 11,114 7,030 36,743 27,520
EBITDA (12,972) (6,410) 131,882 110,020
Add / (subtract):
Provision for income taxes (120) (99) (3) (202)
Interest expense, net (9,804) (7,417) (40,832) (33,629)
Gain on disposal of
property, plant and
equipment, net (562) (150) (715) (636)
Gain on sale of customer
service centers (11,508) - (26,332) (2,483)
Changes in working
capital and other assets
and liabilities 26,795 2,453 29,065 (15,770)
Net cash (used in)/ provided
by operating activities $(8,171) $(11,623) $93,065 $57,300
Net cash provided by/(used in)
investing activities $7,547 $(4,328) $(196,557) $(4,859)
Net cash (used in)/provided
by financing activities $(61,666) $(59,162) $141,208 $(77,631)
SOURCE Suburban Propane Partners, L.P.
-0- 12/01/2004
/CONTACT: Robert M. Plante, Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of
Suburban Propane Partners, L.P., +1-973-503-9252/
/Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/112074.html/
/Web site: http://suburbanpropane.com /
(SPH)
CO: Suburban Propane Partners, L.P.
ST: New Jersey
IN: OIL UTI
SU: ERN
AC
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8312 12/01/2004 17:45 EST http://www.prnewswire.com