Casella Makes Changes

As part of the restructuring, Ross Pirasteh, the company's board chairman, and Marty Sergi, an executive vice president and a member of the board, have resigned.

The company also announced that Jerry Cifor will resign as CFO. He will remain a consultant to the company through the end of the year. Replacing Cifor will be Richard Norris, the company’s vice president and corporate controller.

The company also announced that James Bohlig has been appointed president. He remains COO. The company also named Charles Leonard senior vice president in charge of solid waste operations. He will be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the company's solid waste assets.

The company also announced that it is taking a number of restructuring, asset impairment and other non-recurring charges in its fiscal year 2001 fourth quarter aimed at strengthening its core franchise of traditional solid waste businesses and positioning the company for more stable and predictable financial performance.

The company will take restructuring, asset impairment and other non-recurring charges of about $112 million in its fiscal year fourth quarter. Approximately $100 million of this total are non-cash charges, the company said.

"These charges are an important part of our continuing effort to refocus the company," Casella said. "By resolving issues primarily related to the goodwill associated with the KTI transaction, and continuing with the disposition of non-core assets, we're clearly on a path to giving our assets the best possible springboard.

Over $77 million of the non-cash charges are related to the impairment of goodwill from the acquisition of KTI. The company also took charges for the closure of certain facilities, severance payments to terminated employees, and losses on sale of non-core assets completed in the fourth quarter.

The company also reported pro forma earnings per share for the fourth quarter of ($0.07). Revenues for the quarter ended April 30, 2001 were $99.6 million, and pro forma earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was $17.0 million.

For fiscal year 2001, the company reported pro forma revenues of $479.8 million and EBITDA of $94.7 million.

"We were impacted in the fourth quarter by severe winter weather in our region, affecting both revenue and operating costs," Casella said. "Other factors included continued softness in recyclable commodities prices.

For fiscal year 2002, the company believes that its results will be in the following ranges: Revenues to be in the range of $426 million to $441 million; EBITDA in the range of $92 million to $96 million; Operating free cash flow in the range of $18 million to $22 million; and Total debt at April 30, 2002 is projected to be between $312 million and $316 million.