Exide Technologies reports $267 million of liquidity at fiscal year-end

By Jennifer Lanning Drey

Portland, Ore., June 3 - Exide Technologies, Inc. ended fiscal 2010 with total liquidity of $267 million and net debt of $570 million at March 31, Phillip Damaska, chief financial officer of Exide, said Thursday during its quarterly and year-end earnings conference call.

Exide's liquidity consisted of $90 million of cash and cash equivalents, $125 million available under the company's revolving credit facility and $52 million available under various other credit facilities, he said.

The liquidity figure was down from $297 million of liquidity at March 31, 2009. However, Exide funded $96 million of capital and $86 million of restructuring costs during the course of fiscal 2010, Damaska noted.

The fiscal year-end net-debt position represented a $19 million improvement from net debt of $589 million at the end of fiscal 2009.

Exide generated $14 million of free cash flow in fiscal 2010, compared with free cash flow of $19 million in the prior fiscal year.

For the fourth quarter, Exide's consolidated net sales were $714.7 million, compared with net sales of $654.3 million in the same period of 2009.

The company said net sales in the current-year period were positively impacted by foreign currency translation and price increases, offset by overall lower unit volumes and product mix.

Fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA was $56.2 million, compared with adjusted EBITDA of $40.4 million in the prior-year fourth quarter.

"Like many global industrial manufacturers, the markets we serve certainly had their challenges over the past 12 months," Gordon Ulsh, chief executive officer of Exide, said during the call.

"With that said, we're encouraged with the improvement in our financial results in the fourth quarter as well as the operational achievements during the fiscal year."

Exide is an Alpharetta, Ga., manufacturer and supplier of lead-acid batteries used in transportation, motive power, network power and military applications.

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