Casella Waste Reports Loss for 3rd Quarter, Nine Months

Casella Waste Systems Inc. reported a net loss for its fiscal third quarter and nine months, hurt by falling commodity and energy prices, and impairment charges.

For the quarter ended Jan. 31, the Rutland, Vt.-based solid waste and recycling company said the net loss attributable to common shareholders totaled $24.6 million, or 92 cents per common share, compared with a loss of $6.37 million, or 24 cents per share, in the year-ago period, the company said in a news release.

Revenue for the quarter rose 2.6 percent to $114.6 million from $111.6 million.

In the third quarter Casella also took a $10.2 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge for its U.S. GreenFiber LLC business and a $10.7 million non-cash impairment of equity charge to write down the book value of its investment in that operation.

"Most of the core fundamentals of the business were positive in the quarter, with higher collection pricing, improving landfill volumes, and continued customer adoption of Zero-Sort Recycling services driving higher recycling volumes," said John Casella, chairman and CEO of Casella Waste. "However, lower energy prices and weaker recycling commodity prices were a significant offset to our fundamental strengths."

For the nine months, Casella weathered a net loss of $28.5 million, or $1.07 per share, compared with a loss of $10.4 million, or 40 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 4 percent to $371.6 million from $356.5 million in the year-ago period.

For its fiscal 2012 outlook, Casella said expectations of low energy prices and weak special waste landfill volumes prompted the company to revise its guidance. It now expects revenues between $476 million and $482 million, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITA) of between $100 million and $103 million.