Clean Harbors Inc., the Braintree, Mass.-based company which in 2002 bought several assets of Safety-Kleen Corp. chemical services division, including a Lexington County superfund site, reported fourth-quarter revenues of $176.2 million, a 21 percent increase from the $145.5 million in revenues reported a year ago.
BRAINTREE, Mass. — Clean Harbors Inc., the Braintree, Mass.-based company which in 2002 bought several assets of Safety-Kleen Corp. chemical services division, including a Lexington County superfund site, reported fourth-quarter revenues of $176.2 million, a 21 percent increase from the $145.5 million in revenues reported a year ago.
Income for the quarter was $14.7 million, up from the $5.5 million restated income reported a year ago.
The company recently completed a review of its accounting and has restated its income and revenues for 2002 and 2003. Its 2004 annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission is also being delayed until the end of March because of this review.
Chief executive Alan McKim recently discussed the restatement and fourth-quarter results with analysts during a conference call. The following are excerpts from that call:
QUESTION: What was the highlight of the fourth quarter?
ANSWER: Cash generation was a key highlight. Our cash and marketable securities balances increased by approximately $23 million during the quarter and ended the year at around $48 million. Productivity improvements and careful management of our environmental and capital spending helped cause this.
Q: What else happened during the fourth quarter?
A: During the fourth quarter we continued to gain market share in our technical services business. We also had successful growth within our site services business, including several emergency response events that added more than $10 million in revenue. Also, volumes at our incinerators were strong and Clean Harbors benefited from favorable weather conditions during the period.
Q: Why is Clean Harbors delaying its annual report?
A: Over the last 12 years, we were using a case specific method of estimating self-insurance reserves associated with workers compensation and auto insurance. We reviewed this methodology and have decided to embrace an actuarial type method. As a result of the change we're taking a charge of $256,000 and $255,000 in 2002 and 2003. This will negatively impact our earnings per share by 2 cents for each year. Because of this restatement we will be delayed in filing our 2004 10-K with the SEC.
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