AKRON, Ohio, March 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A. Schulman, Inc. (NASDAQ:SHLM) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Alloy Polymers, Inc. for the sale of A. Schulman's plant in Orange, Texas. No financial details about the agreement were released.
Alloy Polymers is a market leader in specialty compounding services for the thermoplastics industry. It operates plants in Richmond, Virginia, Gahanna, Ohio, and Crockett, Texas.
On February 6, 2008, A. Schulman announced that it would pursue the sale of the Orange, Texas plant, which primarily provides third-party tolling services in which customer-owned materials are processed for a fee. Total annual capacity at the Orange plant is approximately 135 million pounds. The Company has decided to exit the tolling business to concentrate on higher value-added products, but will continue to manufacture proprietary products at the Orange facility through a service agreement with Alloy.
"Working closely with the Alloy Polymers team, we have been consistently impressed by their commitment to understanding our business and their development of a comprehensive service solution to address the critical needs of our markets," said Barry Rhodes, A. Schulman's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for North America.
About A. Schulman, Inc.
Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, A. Schulman is a leading international supplier of high-performance plastic compounds and resins. These materials are used in a variety of consumer, industrial, automotive and packaging applications. The Company employs about 2,500 people and has 17 manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe (including Asia). Revenues for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2007, were $1.8 billion. Additional information about A. Schulman can be found at http://www.aschulman.com/.
Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal securities laws. These statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historic or current facts. They use such words as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance. These forward-looking statements are based on currently available information, but are subject to a variety of uncertainties, unknown risks and other factors concerning the Company's operations and business environment, which are difficult to predict and are beyond the control of the Company. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by these forward-looking statements, and that could adversely affect the Company's future financial performance, include, but are not limited to, the following: -- Worldwide and regional economic, business and political conditions,
including continuing economic uncertainties in some or all of the
Company's major product markets;
-- Fluctuations in the value of currencies in major areas where the
Company operates, including the U.S. dollar, euro, U.K. pound sterling,
Canadian dollar, Mexican peso, Chinese yuan and Indonesian rupiah;
-- Fluctuations in the prices of sources of energy or plastic resins and
other raw materials;
-- Changes in customer demand and requirements;
-- Escalation in the cost of providing employee health care;
-- The outcome of any legal claims known or unknown; and
-- The performance of the North American auto market. Additional risk factors that could affect the Company's performance are set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition, risks and uncertainties not presently known to the Company or that it believes to be immaterial also may adversely affect the Company. Should any known or unknown risks or uncertainties develop into actual events, or underlying assumptions prove inaccurate, these developments could have material adverse effects on the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.
This release contains time-sensitive information that reflects management's best analysis only as of the date of this release. A. Schulman does not undertake an obligation to publicly update or revise any forward- looking statements to reflect new events, information or circumstances, or otherwise. Further information concerning issues that could materially affect financial performance related to forward-looking statements can be found in A. Schulman's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. DATASOURCE: A. Schulman, Inc.
CONTACT: Paul DeSantis, CFO and Treasurer, A. Schulman Inc., +1-330-666-3751 Web site: http://www.aschulman.com/
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