Casella Waste Posts Loss for Fourth Quarter, Year

Casella Waste Systems Inc. reported a net loss of $49.1 million for its fourth quarter and $77.6 million for the year, in part from a charge for a possible asset sale, and weakness in the economy.

The Rutland, Vt.-based Casella said in a news release that for the fiscal quarter and year ended April 30 quarterly revenue slipped 0.3 percent to $109.2 million, compared with $109.5 million in the year-ago period. For the fiscal year, revenue rose 3.2 percent to $480.8 million compared with $466.1 million a year ago.

In the previous fiscal fourth quarter Casella posted net income of $48.8 million. For the previous year net income totaled $38.4 million.

Excluding unusual and one-time gains and charges for each period, adjusted operating income for the latest quarter rose 38.1 percent to $2.9 million from $2.1 million.

The results included a $40.7 million non-cash asset impairment charge, mostly related to the potential sale of its waste-to-energy operation, Maine Energy Recovery Co. The previous year’s fourth quarter included a gain of $45.6 million for several items, including the disposal of discontinued operations.

 "We have implemented a number of strategies to improve financial performance and reduce our exposure to risk in the future," said John Casella, chairman and CEO of the company. "We made significant progress in fiscal year 2012 on several important operational and strategic fronts, including the introduction of a successful collection pricing program.”