Park Electrochemical reports Q1 results

Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE: PKE) reported sales of $58,518,000 for the first quarter ended May 30, 2004 compared to sales from continuing operations of $44,323,000 for the first quarter of last year.

Park reported net earnings of $6,021,000 for the first quarter ended May 30, 2004 compared to a net loss from continuing operations of $1,644,000 for last fiscal year's first quarter ended June 1, 2003. The net loss from continuing operations for last year's first quarter included pre-tax realignment charges of $1,934,000 ($1,058,000 after-tax). The loss from discontinued operations, net of taxes, was $6,807,000 for last fiscal year's first quarter. Net earnings were $6,021,000 for the quarter ended May 30, 2004 compared to a net loss of $8,451,000 for last year's first quarter.

Park's diluted earnings per share were $.30 for the first quarter ended May 30, 2004 compared to a diluted loss per share from continuing operations of $.08 for last year's first quarter. The diluted loss per share from continuing operations before special items was $.03 for last year's first quarter. Diluted earnings per share were $.30 for the quarter ended May 30, 2004 compared to a diluted loss per share of $.43 for last year's first quarter.

Brian Shore, Park's President and CEO, said, "The global markets for our electronic materials products continued to be mixed during our first quarter. As usual, I must remind you that the visibility in our industry has been for many years, and continues to be, very poor. However, it does appear that our industry has begun to slow down to some extent in very recent weeks, particularly in the telecommunications and networking industry segments. Since the current underlying economic fundamentals seem to be relatively positive, the logical conclusion is that this very recent market slow-down is attributable to an industry inventory adjustment. We share our perspective with you regarding the current industry climate with some caution, because our industry has certainly surprised us more than once in the past. In any event, our opinions and beliefs about the short-term trends in the industry have very little impact on how we run our business every day, because, as we have in the past, we continue to run our business from a long-term perspective rather than a short-term perspective. Accordingly, our focus continues to be on growing and expanding our business in Asia and on driving technology throughout the world."