FutureFuel Releases First Quarter 2015 Results

Reports Net Income of $8.1 Million or $0.19 Per Diluted Share, and Adjusted EBITDA of $12.8 Million

Conference Call Begins at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time May 12, 2015

CLAYTON, Mo., May 11, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FutureFuel Corp. (NYSE:FF) ("FutureFuel"), a manufacturer of custom and performance chemicals and biofuels, today announced financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2015.

First Quarter 2015 Financial Highlights (all comparisons are with the first quarter of 2014)

• Revenues were $54.1 million, down 34% from $82.2 million
• Adjusted EBITDA was $12.8 million, up 27% from $10.1 million
• Net income increased to $8.1 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, from $6.3 million, or $0.14 per diluted share.

"Our chemicals business executed well to offset a challenging quarter for the biofuels market and the decline in our legacy bleach activator business," said Paul Flynn, Executive Vice President of Business and Marketing for FutureFuel Chemical Company.

2015 Regular Cash Dividends

FutureFuel declared normal quarterly dividends of $0.06 per share for 2015. The remaining 2015 dividend will be paid in June, September, and December.

Financial Overview and Key Operating Metrics

Financial and operating metrics, which include non-GAAP financial measures, include:

First Quarter Financial and Business Summary

Revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2015 were $54,087,000 as compared to revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2014 of $82,197,000, a decrease of 34%. 

Revenues from chemicals increased 13% and accounted for 63% of total revenues in the first quarter of 2015 as compared to 37% in the first quarter of 2014. Within the chemicals segment, revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2015 changed as follows compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014: (i) revenues from the proprietary herbicides and associated intermediates increased 125% relative to the revenues recognized in the prior period; (ii) revenues from an industrial intermediate utilized in the antimicrobial industry and other custom chemicals increased 28%; (iii) revenues from the bleach activator decreased 27%; and (iv) revenues from the performance chemicals product group increased 9%. Our primary bleach activator customer informed us during the quarter that it would be terminating our supply contract at the end of this year. While the termination of our supply contract will adversely affect future revenue, discussions with our customer to extend our business relationship are ongoing.

Revenues from biofuels were $19,881,000, a decrease of $32,040,000 from the first quarter of 2014 and accounted for 37% of total revenues in the first quarter of 2015 as compared to 63% in the first quarter of 2014. We experienced lower sales volume in the first quarter of 2015 as compared to the first quarter of 2014, primarily as a result of reduced overall demand from our major customers and reduced average selling prices in the weakened renewable energy market, which tracked a global decline in fuel prices. The renewable fuel industry continues to suffer from the lack of the EPA's final mandated volume for 2014 and 2015 and the lack of the $1.00 blenders' tax credit (BTC). Revenues from biofuels benefitted in the first quarter of 2015 from the sales of refined petroleum products as a supplier on a common carrier pipeline. Such sales totaled $3,357,000 and $694,000 in the first three months of 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Net income for the quarter increased 30% to $8,131,000, or $0.19 per diluted share, from $6,274,000, or $0.14 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2014. This increase in net income is attributable to the revenue changes noted above as well as the benefit from adjustments in our inventory carrying value as determined utilizing the LIFO method of inventory accounting. Regarding the LIFO adjustments, significant deflation in pricing indices resulted in reductions to cost of goods sold of $2,479,000 in the chemicals segment and $486,000, net of a lower of cost or market write-down, in the biofuels segment. No such reduction was recognized in the three months ended March 31, 2014. The LIFO benefit was minimized by higher uncapitalized operating costs stemming from reduced bleach activator and biodiesel plant production rates in the first quarter of 2015.

Cash and Cash Equivalents and Marketable Securities

Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $242,825,000 as of March 31, 2015, compared with $211,799,000 as of December 31, 2014.

Conference Call and Webcast

A conference call and webcast will be held May 12, 2015 beginning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time (8:00 a.m. Central Time). To access the conference call, dial (877) 251-1860 (U.S. and Canada) or (224) 357-2386 (international callers). The webcast and supplemental slides will be available in the investor relations section of the company's website at www.futurefuelcorporation.com. A replay of the call and webcast will begin approximately two hours after the live call has ended. To access the replay, dial (855) 859-2056 (U.S. and Canada) or (404) 537-3406 (international callers) and enter the conference ID number: 33670132.

About FutureFuel

FutureFuel is a leading manufacturer of diversified chemical products and biobased products comprised of biofuels and biobased specialty chemical products. In its chemicals business, FutureFuel manufactures specialty chemicals for specific customers ("custom manufacturing") as well as multi-customer specialty chemicals ("performance chemicals"). FutureFuel's custom manufacturing product portfolio includes a bleach activator for a major detergent manufacturer, a proprietary herbicide and intermediates for a major life sciences company, and chlorinated polyolefin adhesion promoters and antioxidant precursors for a major chemical company. FutureFuel's performance chemicals product portfolio includes polymer (nylon) modifiers and several small-volume specialty chemicals for diverse applications. FutureFuel's biofuels segment involves predominantly the production of biodiesel. Please visit www.futurefuelcorporation.com for more information.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements deal with FutureFuel's current plans, intentions, beliefs, and expectations, and statements of future economic performance. Statements containing such terms as "believe," "do not believe," "plan," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," and other phrases of similar meaning are considered to contain uncertainty and are forward-looking statements. In addition, from time to time FutureFuel or its representatives have made or will make forward-looking statements orally or in writing. Furthermore, such forward-looking statements may be included in various filings that the company makes with United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), in press releases, or in oral statements made by or with the approval of one of FutureFuel's authorized executive officers.

These forward-looking statements are subject to certain known and unknown risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in these forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to, those set forth under the headings "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in FutureFuel's Form 10-K Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2014 and in its future filings made with the SEC. An investor should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements contained in this document which reflect FutureFuel's management's opinions only as of their respective dates. Except as required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revisions to forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties described in this document and in current and future filings with the SEC are not the only ones faced by FutureFuel. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the company to predict which will arise. There may be additional risks not presently known to the company or that the company currently believes are immaterial to its business. In addition, FutureFuel cannot assess the impact of each factor on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. If any such risks occur, FutureFuel's business, operating results, liquidity, and financial condition could be materially affected in an adverse manner. An investor should consult any additional disclosures FutureFuel has made or will make in its reports to the SEC on Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K, and any amendments thereto. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to FutureFuel or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained in this document.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In this press release, FutureFuel used adjusted EBITDA as a key operating metric to measure both performance and liquidity. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. Adjusted EBITDA is not a substitute for operating income, net income, or cash flow from operating activities (each as determined in accordance with GAAP), as a measure of performance or liquidity. Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of results as reported under GAAP. FutureFuel defines adjusted EBITDA as net income before interest, income taxes, depreciation, and amortization expenses, excluding, when applicable, non-cash share-based compensation expense, public offering expenses, acquisition-related transaction costs, purchase accounting adjustments, loss on disposal of property and equipment, gains or losses on derivative instruments, other non-operating income or expense. Information relating to adjusted EBITDA is provided so that investors have the same data that management employs in assessing the overall operation and liquidity of FutureFuel's business. FutureFuel's calculation of adjusted EBITDA may be different from similarly titled measures used by other companies; therefore, the results of its calculation are not necessarily comparable to the results of other companies.

Adjusted EBITDA allows FutureFuel's chief operating decision makers to assess the performance and liquidity of FutureFuel's business on a consolidated basis to assess the ability of its operating segments to produce operating cash flow to fund working capital needs, to fund capital expenditures, and to pay dividends. In particular, FutureFuel management believes that adjusted EBITDA permits a comparative assessment of FutureFuel's operating performance and liquidity, relative to a performance and liquidity based on GAAP results, while isolating the effects of depreciation and amortization, which may vary among its operating segments without any correlation to their underlying operating performance, and of non-cash stock-based compensation expense, which is a non-cash expense that varies widely among similar companies, and gains and losses on derivative instruments, whose immediate recognition can cause net income to be volatile from quarter to quarter due to the timing of the valuation change in the derivative instruments relative to the sale of biofuel.

A table included in this earnings release reconciles adjusted EBITDA with net income, the most directly comparable GAAP performance financial measure, and a table reconciles adjusted EBITDA with cash flows from operations, the most directly comparable GAAP liquidity financial measure.

CONTACT: COMPANY CONTACT
         FutureFuel Corp.
         Paul M. Flynn
         (314) 854-8385
         www.futurefuelcorporation.com