Buckeye Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BKI) today announced record sales and earnings for fiscal year 2012. Net sales for the year (adjusted to exclude discontinued Americana operations) were $895 million, a new record and up $14 million or 2% compared to fiscal 2011, as higher selling prices offset a $10MM sales reduction due to the divestiture of our King converting business and lower shipment volumes from both our Foley wood specialty mill and our nonwovens business. Adjusted net income* for the 2012 fiscal year was a record $111 million, or $2.76 per share, compared to $91 million or $2.23 per share in fiscal 2011. The growth in adjusted net income was due to significantly higher selling prices for our high-end specialty wood and cotton fiber products which more than offset the impact of lower fluff pulp prices. Net income also benefited in fiscal year 2012 from reduced selling, research and administrative expenses and lower interest expense.

Fourth quarter adjusted net income* was $26.2 million or $0.66 per share. This excludes net after-tax charges of $2.8 million, or $0.08 per share, primarily relating to the sale of our Americana, Brazil cotton linter pulp plant and adjustments relating to the cellulosic biofuel credit. Adjusted net income* was off slightly compared to the prior year period’s $27.8 million or $0.68 per share, which excluded an after-tax non-cash asset impairment charge of $13.0 million, or $0.32 per share, relating to plans to close our Canadian nonwovens plant by the end of December 2012 as well as other special items of $0.6 million or $0.01 per share.

Net sales were $225 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, down $24 million or 10% versus record net sales of $249 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 (which have been adjusted to exclude discontinued Americana operations). About $5 million of the reduction in sales was related to the divestiture of our King converting business. Sales from our Foley specialty wood plant were down $10 million due to lower shipment volume. Last year’s sales benefited from significant shipments from inventory. Sales from the Memphis specialty cotton plant were off $5 million due to supply chain inventory corrections and lower growth projections in the LED TV market. In spite of the reduction in sales revenue and the $0.06 negative earnings impact of the June steam drum failure outage at Foley, adjusted EPS* of $0.66 was only down by $0.02 per share compared to the year ago quarter. Higher selling prices in Specialty Fibers, lower costs and the elimination of underperforming businesses offset most of the impact of lower sales revenue and the June production outage. We generated $50 million in free cash flow* during the quarter, including $6 million in net proceeds from the sale of our Americana assets. We repurchased 750,000 shares ($22 million) during the quarter, bringing total year repurchases to 1.2 million shares ($33 million), or 3% of outstanding shares at the beginning of the year. We also reduced debt by $12 million to $59 million. At the end of the quarter our cash and short term investments stood at $47 million.

Comparing the fourth quarter to the third quarter of fiscal 2012, sales were up $8 million or 4% primarily due to a 20% increase in shipment volume in our nonwovens segment. Adjusted EPS* of $0.66 was down $0.01 versus the third quarter as increased shipment volume, favorable shipment mix, and falling cotton linter prices mostly offset the $0.06 negative impact of the June outage at Foley.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John B. Crowe said, “Fiscal year 2012 was another year of record sales and earnings. During the year, we continued to generate significant cash flow, allowing us to invest in high rate of return capital projects, return cash to our shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, and essentially eliminate our debt. With a strong operating performance and actions taken to address underperforming assets, we delivered a return on invested capital (ROIC) in fiscal year 2012 of 16.5%, well above our cost of capital. While Buckeye is well positioned to continue to increase shareholder value, we believe that global economic uncertainty may generate a headwind for us in fiscal 2013.”

“Our fourth quarter results were significantly impacted by the steam drum failure and resulting production outage at our Foley facility in late June. Returning both lines to operation in just 17 days was a remarkable accomplishment by our organization.“

Buckeye has scheduled a conference call for Wednesday morning, August 8, at 11:00 a.m. ET to discuss fourth quarter and fiscal year performance. Persons interested in listening by telephone may dial in at (877) 852-6573 within the United States. International callers should dial (719) 325-4834. Supplemental material for the call will be available on the Company’s website at www.bkitech.com or at www.streetevents.com.

Buckeye, a leading manufacturer and marketer of specialty fibers and nonwoven materials, is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. The Company currently operates facilities in the United States, Germany, Canada, and Brazil. Its products are sold worldwide to makers of consumer and industrial goods.

Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws and is intended to qualify for the Safe Harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. “Forward-looking statements” generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “assumptions,” “target,” “guidance,” “outlook,” “plans,” “projection,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “potential,” or “continue (or the negative or other derivatives of each of these terms or similar terminology). The “forward-looking statements” include, without limitation, statements regarding the economic outlook for Buckeye and the demand for its products, the results and timing of Buckeye’s strategic investments and growth opportunities and expected levels of cash flow and debt reduction. These statements are based on management’s estimates and assumptions with respect to future events and financial performance and are believed to be reasonable, though are inherently uncertain and difficult to predict. Actual results could differ materially from those projected as a result of certain factors. A discussion of factors that could cause results to vary is included in Buckeye’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and other periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Note Regarding Non-GAAP Financial Measures

*This release includes certain financial information not derived in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). The non-GAAP measures presented are “adjusted operating income”, “adjusted net income”, “adjusted earnings per share”, “free cash flow” and are equal to net income, pre-tax income, operating income and earnings per share excluding the after-tax effects of alternative fuel mixture credits (AFMC) and cellulosic biofuel credits (CBC), goodwill and long-term asset impairment cost, and restructuring cost.

Loss from Discontinued Operations

* As a result of the disposition of our Americana operations in Q4 2012 and resulting end to our continuing involvement with the inclusion of the waste water treatment facilities in the assets that were sold, we believe the results of the operations for this business, including the loss recognized from the sale and less applicable income taxes (benefit), should be reported in discontinued operations in our consolidated income statement. Additionally, we will report the results of prior periods for this component within discontinued operations for all years presented in our consolidated income statement in our 2012 Form 10-K. The table below shows the detail behind the loss from discontinued operations for each period reported in the press release financial statements.