Bemis Company Inc. (BMS) reported earnings per share from continuing operations of 48 cents for the first quarter of 2010, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 40 cents.

Total Bemis net revenues were $1.0 billion for the first quarter of 2010, a 21.1% increase from $843.4 million for 1QFY09. Acquisitions completed during the last twelve months, including the recently acquired Alcan Packaging Food Americas business, increased first quarter net sales by an estimated 17%. Currency effects increased net revenues by 4.8% compared to the year-ago period.

Segment Details

Bemis’ Flexible Packaging business segment reported net sales of $881.4 million. This represents a 23.2% increase compared to net sales of $715.2 million for the year-ago quarter. Segment operating profit for the first quarter of 2010 was $93.9 million, or 10.7% of net sales, compared to $91.4 million, or 12.8% percent of net sales, for the same period of 2009. The Food Americas acquisition increased operating profit, after purchase accounting adjustments for inventory and order backlog, by $1.0 million during the quarter.

Net sales from the Pressure Sensitive Materials business segment for the first quarter of 2010 were $140.3 million, a 9.4% increase compared to $128.2 million in 1QFY09. Currency effects increased net sales by 3.0% compared to the first quarter of 2009. The operating profit for the first quarter of 2010 was $6.6 million, or 4.7% of net sales, compared to an operating loss during 1QFY09 of $1.9 million.

Capital Structure

Total debt to total capitalization was 44.1% at Mar 31, 2010, compared to 38.8 percent at Dec 31, 2009. Total debt as of Mar 31, 2010 was $1.5 billion. As of Mar 31, 2010, Bemis had available from its banks a total of $625.0 million of revolving credit facilities.

Guidance

Management expects adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations for the second quarter of 2010 to be in the range of $0.53 to $0.58 and for the full year 2010 to be in the range of $2.00 to $2.15 per share. This is an increase from management’s previous adjusted annual guidance of $1.95 to $2.10 per share.

Bemis Company, Inc. manufactures and sells flexible packaging products and pressure sensitive materials in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe and Asia.
Read the full analyst report on “BMS”
Zacks Investment Research