Earnings Labs

Universal Corporation (UVV)

Q4 2010 Earnings Call· Thu, May 27, 2010

$54.06

+0.81%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon. My name is Lisa and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Universal Corporation fiscal year 2010 results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Thank you. Ms. Karen Whelan, you may begin your conference.

Karen Whelan

Management

Thank you for joining us. George Freeman, our Chairman, President and CEO; and David Moore, our Chief Financial Officer, are here with me today and they will join me in answering questions after these brief remarks. This call is being webcast live and will be available on our website and on telephone taped replay. It will remain on our website until August 4th, 2010. So if you are listening to this call after that date or if you are reading a transcription, we have not authorized such recording or transcription and it has been made available to you without our permission, review, or approval. We take no responsibility for such presentation. Any transcription inaccuracies or omissions or failure to present available updates are the responsibility of the party who is providing it to you. Before I begin to discuss our results, I caution you that we will be making forward-looking statements that are based on our current knowledge and some assumptions about the future. So I urge you to read our 10-K for the year-ended March 31st, 2010, which we filed today, for information on some of the factors that can affect our estimates. Those factors can include such things as customer-mandated timing of shipments, weather conditions, political and economic environment, changes in currency, and changes in market structure or sources. Finally, some of the information I have for you today is based on unaudited allocations and is subject to reclassification. We have a number of things to talk about today. First, we have continued the good earnings pattern that you've seen all year. Diluted earnings per share for the year were up 31% to $5.68, and net income was also a record at $168 million. There are only a few keys to understanding the year and the quarter. We've…

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is going to come from the line of Dax Vlassis with Gates Capital Management. Dax Vlassis – Gates Capital Management: Karen, did I hear you right when you said that the North American business in 2012, that the – from what you can tell right now, that it could be as much as – your operating income could be cut it in half from what it is today?

Karen Whelan

Management

Yes, that's without any cost reduction or mitigation of other types replacing the business, yes. Dax Vlassis – Gates Capital Management: But you will have some advance planning? I mean, obviously you are talking about it now, so you have well over a year to sort of –

Karen Whelan

Management

Right. Dax Vlassis – Gates Capital Management: :

Karen Whelan

Management

Right. I think it's our job to make sure that we keep our costs in line and take whatever steps we need to do that. We intend to remain competitive. Dax Vlassis – Gates Capital Management: Great. And then on the – let's see, on the – yes, I think in the past, you've sort of used cash generation on a look-back basis to sort of determine what would be financially feasible or financially conservative to be able to repurchase shares. It looks like you bought back about $17 million worth of stock in the fourth quarter – in the quarter just ended, the March quarter. Where are you in that? I think you still have some availability on that. Where do you guys stand as far as additional purchases?

Karen Whelan

Management

Yes, we have $130 million still authorized to spend and we will look at the cash flow. I think the working capital investment came in a little better maybe than we expected. So – but $130 million is the authorization. Dax Vlassis – Gates Capital Management: Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Currently, we have no further questions from the audience.

Karen Whelan

Management

All right. Lisa, thank you very much and thank you all for joining us today. We look forward to talking with you again in August at the end of our first quarter. Thank you.