Business
Asia Bio-Chem Group Corp. Announces First Quarter 2010 Financial Results
Asia Bio-Chem Group Corp. Announces First Quarter 2010 Financial Results
About this update from Absolutely Critical Resources Corp.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\n May 13, 2010 (Canada NewsWire Group) -- TSX Venture: ABC\n\n Asia Bio-Chem Group Corp. (TSXV: ABC) ("Asia Bio-Chem" or the "Company") today announced its interim financial statements for the three month period ending March 31, 2010.\n\n\n >\n\n\n"We are pleased to report that our new Daqing facility is fully operational and has made a material contribution to the first quarter earnings," stated Mr. Zhiping Wang, President and CEO of Asia Bio-Chem. "Customer demand is high and product prices have continued to improve from the last half of 2009."\nSales from the Daqing plant were the primary contributor to a $20.9 million increase in sales and a $4.3 million increase in gross profit in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the first quarter of 2009.\nAs a percentage of sales, gross margin was 17%, which reflects the slower startup of Daqing in January. With the increased capacity utilization and improved logistics achieved throughout the quarter, gross margins increased to 19% in March.\n\n\n >\n\n\nWith the contribution from Daqing together with strong product prices, the Company achieved EBITDA before stock based compensation of $5.4 million the highest in the Company's history.\nDuring the first quarter, the Company's cash position declined to $4.6 million as at March 31, 2010 primarily due to higher receivables associated with the significant increase in revenues from the Daqing plant.\n\nDaqing Update\n\nAs reported with our year end results on March 26th 2010, the issues related to shortages of rail cars at the Daqing plant have been resolved and, as of early February of this year, the company has been receiving rail cars on a regular basis. As a result, production at Daqing has been improving with corn processing capacity utilization reaching 50% in February and 64% in March.\nContinued improvements in logistics are expected from both improved rail/ship coordination and expansion of the loading dock at Daqing. Given the distance from Daqing to the sea port, it is more difficult for the company to coordinate its land shipments with the container ship schedule.\nAs stated on January 15, 2010 the Company is expanding its loading system at the Daqing plant to accommodate bi-modal container cars. This expansion is expected to increase throughput at the dock and therefore allow t...