Buckeye Technologies’ first quarter net income reached $64.4 million.
Net sales were $202 million for the first quarter of 2011 compared to $177 million in the first quarter of 2009. First quarter earnings included net income of $51.3 million.
Net sales in the nonwovens sector totaled $68.1 million for the three months ending September 30, 2010.
Chairman and CEO John Crowe said, "Buckeye's first quarter results exceeded our expectations going into the quarter. Earnings showed strong improvement compared both to the same quarter a year ago and to the immediately preceding quarter. We continue to be sold out in specialty wood and can sell all the cotton pulp we can make although we are still raw material constrained. Fluff pulp demand and prices continue to be strong. Nonwovens demand continues to grow. Input costs have remained fairly stable with the exception of cotton linters. We continue to work on profit improvement initiatives, and as such during the quarter we made the decision to consolidate all production at our Delta, B.C. Canada airlaid facility on the newer of the two machines at that site. This is expected to result in a cost reduction of $2.5 - $3.0 million per year, and a total restructuring charge of approximately $1 million over the first two quarters of this fiscal year. Our Foley energy independence project is on schedule with phase one coming on line next month and full completion scheduled for the fall of 2011."