Business
Rothmans Inc. - Fourth Quarter and Year Ended March 31, 2006
Rothmans Inc. - Fourth Quarter and Year Ended March 31, 2006.
About this update from Pantera Silver Corp.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\n\nRothmans Inc. Delivers Higher Sales, Earnings and Cash Flow \nin Fiscal 2006\n \nTrading: TSX: ROC\n\nTORONTO, May 19 /CNW/ - Rothmans Inc. today announced results for the\nfourth quarter and full fiscal year ended March 31, 2006.\nRothmans' earnings for the year ended March 31, 2006 were $99.5 million,\nor $1.47 basic earnings per share compared with $93.0 million, or $1.38 basic\nearnings per share in fiscal 2005.\nSales at 60%-owned Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc., net of excise duty and\ntaxes, were $652.3 million compared with $636.8 million last year. The\n$15.5 million increase in sales is a result of increased volumes of price\ncategory cigarettes together with price increases across all product\ncategories, which more than compensated for volume declines in premium\ncigarettes and fine cut products.\nInvestment income was $3.4 million compared with $4.2 million a year\nearlier as a result of lower average cash balances following the payout of a\nspecial dividend in the first quarter of fiscal 2006.\nRBH's EBITDA margin was 44.8% for the year compared with 43.8% in the\nprior year. The increase was due to a variety of factors, including increased\nvolumes of price category cigarettes, higher prices across all product\ncategories and reduced product input costs. These elements more than offset\nreduced volumes in premium cigarettes and fine cut products and higher\nmanufacturing, sales, marketing and general administrative costs.\nDuring the last three quarters of the fiscal year, the rate of decline in\nreported industry sales volumes has accelerated. We believe this was caused by\nincreased sales of non-taxed or partially taxed contraband product.\nFor fiscal 2006, RBH's share of the total domestic composite market was\n31.3%, up from 29.5% in 2005. Premium cigarette market share was 15.6%\ncompared with 15.5% a year earlier.\nIn the price category, RBH's total share increased to 47.4% compared with\n46.3% in 2005. The cigarette price category segment was 44.4% compared with\n41.5% in 2005. Share of the domestic fine cut market was 59.1% compared with\n59.6% a year earlier.\nIncluding the $1.50 per share special dividend, Rothmans Inc. paid\ndividends of $182.7 million, or $2.70 per share, in fiscal 2006. This compares\nwith dividends of $70.9 million, or $1.05 per share, in 2005.\n\"Once again, Rothmans de...