REX American Resources Fiscal 2012 Revenue Rises 60% to $658 Million; Diluted EPS Loss of $0.28

REX American Resources Fiscal 2012 Revenue Rises 60% to $658 Million; Diluted EPS Loss of $0.28

- Q4 Revenue Rises 2% to $175 Million -

DAYTON, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- REX American Resources Corporation (NYS: REX) today reported financial results for its fiscal 2012 fourth quarter ("Q4 '12") and year ended January 31, 2013. REX management will host a conference call and webcast today at 9:00 a.m. ET.

REX American Resources' Q4 '12 results principally reflect its alternative energy segment interests in seven ethanol production facilities. The operations of One Earth Energy, LLC ("One Earth") and NuGen Energy, LLC ("NuGen") are consolidated (NuGen was effective November 1, 2011), while those of its five other plants are reported as equity in income of unconsolidated ethanol affiliates.

REX recognizes certain results from its ethanol interests on a quarterly calendar basis, and as a result, REX's Q4 results include results from ethanol operations for the period October 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012, with the exception of NuGen, which is for the period November 1, 2012 through January 31, 2013.

REX's Q4 '12 net sales and revenue rose 2.4% to $174.6 million, from $170.5 million in Q4 '11. Reflecting the compression of ethanol margins along with lower income from discontinued operations, net loss attributable to REX shareholders in Q4 '12 was $4.4 million, or a loss of $0.54 per diluted share, compared with income of $14.8 million, or $1.76 per diluted share, in Q4 '11. Q4 '12 loss from continuing operations attributable to REX shareholders net of tax was $4.6 million, or $0.56 per diluted share, compared with income of $14.5 million, or $1.72 per diluted share, in Q4 '11. REX recorded income from discontinued operations net of tax, including gain on disposal of discontinued operations, of $0.1 million, or $0.02 per diluted share for Q4 '12, compared with $0.3 million, or $0.04 per diluted share in Q4 '11. Per share results in Q4 '12 and Q4 '11 are based on 8,156,000 and 8,398,000 diluted weighted average shares outstanding, respectively. The 2.9% reduction in the shares outstanding principally reflects the Company's ongoing open market share repurchase program partially offset by shares exercised pursuant to options.

Primarily reflecting the challenging alternative energy industry conditions that prevailed throughout fiscal 2012, REX incurred a consolidated gross loss (inclusive of the Company's real estate segment) of $2.6 million in Q4' 12, compared with a gross profit $20.5 million in Q4' 11. In Q4 '12, equity in loss of unconsolidated affiliates was $0.9 million, compared with income of $5.7 million in Q4 '11. REX's Q4 '12 loss from continuing operations before income taxes and non-controlling interests was $8.3 million, compared with a profit of $25.2 million in Q4 '11.

REX CEO, Stuart Rose, commented, "Fiscal 2012, in particular the fourth quarter, was a challenging period for the entire ethanol sector as profitability was significantly impacted by lower crush spread margins. In addition, year-over-year comparisons reflect the expiration of the VEETC tax credit at the end of 2011, as during the second half of 2011 there was an increase in demand for ethanol, which led to a slowdown in demand during 2012 and reduced ethanol pricing. Ethanol production costs also rose substantially during the second half of 2012 as the droughts across the Midwest significantly increased corn prices.

"Ethanol crush spread margins have strengthened since the beginning of calendar 2013 and REX is well positioned to take advantage of the improving industry environment. Our portfolio of state-of-the-art ethanol plants, and ability to efficiently produce dried distillers grains and corn oil, combined with the Company's strict operating disciplines, suggests that REX will return to profitability as industry conditions normalize."

On a full year basis, fiscal 2012 revenue rose 60.4% to $657.7 million, while gross profit declined from $34.0 million in fiscal 2011 to $13.5 million in fiscal 2012 reflecting the challenges faced by the industry throughout the year. As a result, the Company reported a fiscal 2012 net loss of $2.3 million, or a diluted EPS loss of $0.28, versus net income in fiscal 2011 of $28.3 million, or $3.08 per diluted share.

Balance Sheet and Share Repurchase Program

At January 31, 2013, REX had cash and cash equivalents of $69.1 million, $47.7 million of which was at the parent company and $21.4 million of which was at its consolidated ethanol production facilities. This compares with cash and cash equivalents of $75.0 million at January 31, 2012, $46.1 million of which was at the parent and $28.9 million of which was at its consolidated ethanol production facilities.

REX repurchased 31,902 common shares in Q4 '12 at an average price per share of $16.92 and repurchased a total of 245,434 common shares in fiscal 2012 at an average price per share of $17.82. The Company is currently authorized to repurchase up to an additional 417,021 shares of common stock. Reflecting all share repurchases to date, REX has 8,151,846 shares outstanding.

At January 31, 2013, REX had lease agreements, as landlord for six former retail store locations. REX has 11 owned former retail stores that were vacant at January 31, 2013, which it is marketing to either lease or sell. The Company sold five former retail store locations during fiscal 2012. In addition, one former distribution center is partially leased, partially occupied by the REX corporate office and partially vacant. The real estate segment revenue reflects rental income derived from these sites.

The following table summarizes select data related to the Company's consolidated alternative energy interests:

About REX American Resources Corporation

REX American Resources has interests in seven ethanol production facilities which in aggregate shipped approximately 700 million gallons of ethanol over the twelve month period ended January 31, 2013. REX's effective ownership of the trailing twelve month gallons shipped (for the twelve months ended January 31, 2013) by the ethanol production facilities in which it has ownership interests was approximately 255 million gallons. Further information about REX is available at www.rexamerican.com.

This news announcement contains or may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements can be identified by use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "expect," "believe," "estimate," "anticipate" or "continue" or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology. Readers are cautioned that there are risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those referred to in such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include the risk factors set forth from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and include among other things: the impact of legislative changes, the price volatility and availability of corn, dried and modified distillers grains, ethanol, corn oil, gasoline and natural gas, ethanol plants operating efficiently and according to forecasts and projections, changes in the national or regional economies, weather, the effects of terrorism or acts of war, changes in real estate market conditions and the impact of Internal Revenue Service audits. The Company does not intend to update publicly any forward-looking statements except as required by law.