Worthington Industries’ Q4 debt up $224.5 million from prior quarter

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., June 26 – Worthington Industries, Inc. ended its fourth quarter on May 31 with total debt of $666.3 million, a $224.5 million increase from Feb. 28.

In April, the company issued $250 million of 4.55% senior notes due 2026. A portion of the proceeds were used to repay borrowings then outstanding under the company’s $425 million revolving credit facility and its $100 million trade accounts receivable securitization facility, according to the earnings news release.

The company had cash of $190 million at quarter-end and plans to use $100 million of the cash to repay $100 million of current notes due December 2014.

Interest expense was $8 million for the current quarter, compared to $6.2 million a year ago due to the impact of higher average debt levels and higher average interest rates resulting from an increase in the usage of long-term debt versus short-term debt, the release stated.

During the fourth quarter, Worthington repurchased a total of 1 million common shares for $37.1 million at an average price of $37.14.

Worthington repurchased a total of 3,380,500 common shares for $128.2 million at an average price of $37.93 during fiscal 2014.

In June, the company’s board authorized the repurchase of an additional 10 million shares, in addition to the 1.7 million shares remaining under the 2011 authorization.

On June 25, the board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share payable on Sept. 29 to shareholders of record on Sept. 15.

Financial highlights

Worthington reported fourth-quarter net sales of $891 million and net earnings of $33.2 million, or $0.47 per diluted share.

This compares to net sales of $704.1 million and net earnings of $33.5 million, or $0.46 per diluted share, for the prior-year period.

Net sales were up 20% year over year at $514.2 million while full-year net earnings were $151.3 million, or $2.11 per diluted share.

“We had a great fiscal 2014 with the highest annual earnings per share in our company’s history,” said chairman and chief executive officer John McConnell.

Worthington is a Columbus, Ohio-based metal processing company.

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