Press Release

 

Contact: Murray Stamer
Park Electrochemical Corp.
(516) 354-4100

PARK ELECTROCHEMICAL REPORTS FISCAL YEAR RESULTS

LAKE SUCCESS, New York, April 30, 2002…Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE-PKE) reported sales of $56,590,000 for the fourth quarter ended March 3, 2002 compared to $129,528,000 for the fourth quarter of last year. Park’s sales for the fiscal year ended March 3, 2002 were $230,060,000 compared to last year's sales of $522,197,000.

Park reported a net loss of $1,011,000 for the fourth quarter compared to net earnings of $14,108,000 for last year’s fourth quarter. The net loss for the fiscal year ended March 3, 2002 was $11,915,000, before non-recurring, pre-tax charges of $19,434,000, compared to net earnings of $49,419,000 for last year. The net loss for the fiscal year ended March 3, 2002, including the non-recurring charges, was $25,519,000. As previously reported, the Company incurred these non-recurring charges in connection with the sale of the assets and business of its Nelco Technology subsidiary and the closure of a related support facility in Arizona, the realignment of the operations of its Nelco Dielektra GmbH subsidiary in Germany, and workforce reductions at other continuing operations.

Park’s loss per share for the fourth quarter was $0.05 basic and diluted compared to earnings per share of $0.88 basic and $0.74 diluted for last year’s fourth quarter. The loss per share before the non-recurring charges was $0.61 basic and diluted for the fiscal year ended March 3, 2002, compared to earnings per share of $3.10 basic and $2.65 diluted for last year. The loss per share for the year ended March 3, 2002, including the non-recurring charges, was $1.31.

Brian Shore, Park’s President and CEO, said, “Well, our 2002 fiscal year was quite a year! Although a few people believed that an electronics manufacturing industry ‘correction’ would occur during the 2001 calendar year, no one could have ever predicted (and no one did predict to my knowledge!) the magnitude of the correction. The correction is completely unprecedented. There is simply no historical reference point from the very beginning of the electronics era to which we could meaningfully compare the current correction. It is not an exaggeration to say that the global electronics manufacturing industry almost completely collapsed twelve to fifteen months ago. These are facts about which we are all now very well aware, and I have restated these facts here for purposes of perspective only.”

Brian Shore continued, “So, what did we do about it? What we did about it was we maintained our convictions and we stayed true to our beliefs about our business and our future. We did not whine or feel sorry for ourselves or allow ourselves to succumb to self-pity. We conducted ourselves with integrity and with honor in the face of pervasive industry despair and massive industry confusion. We maintained our commitment to our mission and our business and we pressed forward. We created our own good news during a year in which there was simply no good news coming from the outside world. We completed our major Nelco/New York and Nelco/California expansion programs, although we will continue to enhance and fine-tune these investments for years to come. Our new R/F microwave manufacturing installation is up and running and doing business in Arizona. We opened our business in China. Although our road in China will be long and will be full of challenges, we now have a stake in the ground. We pressed forward with our vital and dynamic product development efforts. We continued to develop new and exciting manufacturing technologies at our facility in Singapore. We continue with the installation of new, high-technology treating capability in France. But, most importantly, throughout the 2002 fiscal year, we as a people gave it everything we had to continue to build our company for the future.”

Brian Shore continued, “When we announced our third quarter results, we commented that, although there was a high degree of uncertainty about the short-term future of the industry and we were therefore not in a position to predict the timing of the industry recovery, there may be some glimmers of hope on the horizon. In fact, when one considers the Christmas and New Year shutdowns and the Lunar New Year shutdowns in Asia, there did occur some small improvement in our bookings and revenues during the fourth quarter as compared to our second and third quarters. This improvement was partly attributable to market share gains and partly attributable to certain of our customers doing somewhat better. However, we are in no position to predict whether this small improvement is sustainable or to determine whether the global electronics industry is in fact beginning to recover. The environment of uncertainty continues, and our consuming thrust continues to be to run our business to the very best of our ability every day. Our daily focus continues to be to find new and better ways to help our customers succeed. Our consuming focus continues to be to make our business better every day. That’s what we do for a living!”

Brian Shore concluded, “Although there is still so very much more for us to do, I must tell you that I believe our company is stronger now than ever. We have endured an unprecedented global industry collapse, and we have maintained our commitments to our beliefs and our strategy and our future. Although we are not in a position to predict the short-term future of the global electronics industry, we feel very good about our company and our prospects over the long haul.”

The Company will conduct a conference call to discuss its financial results at 11:00 a.m. EDT today. Forward-looking and other material information may be discussed in this conference call. The conference call dial-in number is (800) 811-7286.

For those unable to listen to the call live, a conference call replay will be available from approximately 2:00 p.m. EDT today through 2:00 p.m. EDT on Thursday, May 2, 2002. The conference call replay can be accessed by dialing (888) 203-1112 and entering passcode 710008.

Certain portions of this press release may be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements that are subject to various factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from Park’s expectations. Such factors include, but are not limited to, general conditions in the electronics industry, Park’s competitive position, the status of Park’s relationships with its customers, economic conditions in international markets, the cost and availability of utilities, and the various factors set forth under the caption “Factors That May Affect Future Results” after Item 7 of Park’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 25, 2001.

Park Electrochemical Corp. is a leading global designer and producer of electronic materials used to fabricate complex multilayer printed circuit boards and interconnection systems. Park specializes in advanced materials for high layer count circuit boards and high speed digital broadband telecommunications, internet and networking applications. Park’s electronic materials business operates through fully integrated business units in Asia, Europe and North America. The Company’s manufacturing facilities are located in Singapore, China, Germany, France, England, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Arizona and California. Park’s electronic materials business operates under the “Nelco” name.

Additional corporate information is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.parkelectro.com.

*The increase in the number of basic shares outstanding in the current year was principally due to the conversion of $95,934,000 principal amount of the Company’s 5.5% Convertible Subordinated Notes into 3,411,000 shares of the Company’s common stock on March 1, 2001.

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Park Electrochemical Corporation48 So. Service Road, Suite 300MelvilleNY11747

(631) 465-3600Fax: 465-3100

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