5 For Immediate Release Contact: Mark C. Layton Michael A. Burns, President President, Chief Executive Officer and Preston Kirk, APR Chief Operating Officer Michael Burns & Associates Daisytek International Corporation (214) 521-8596 (972) 881-4700 kirkpf@flash.net mlayton@daisytek.com mba-pr@metronet.com or Thomas J. Madden Vice President - Finance, Chief Financial Officer Daisytek International Corporation (972) 881-4700 tmadden@daisytek.com Daisytek Reports Record Second Quarter Results DALLAS, TEXAS (Nov. 5, 1997) - Daisytek International Corporation (Nasdaq: DZTK) today reported record second quarter results for its period ended Sept. 30, 1997. Net sales for the second quarter of fiscal year 1998 increased 30 percent to $179.6 million, compared to $138.1 million for the second quarter of fiscal year 1997. Net income for the second quarter of fiscal year 1998 was $3.9 million, up 30.9 percent over the previous fiscal year's second quarter net income of $3.0 million. Earnings per share for the second quarter of fiscal year 1998 was $0.54 per share on 7.2 million shares, an increase of 25.6 percent versus the prior fiscal year's second quarter of $0.43 per share on 6.9 million shares. Net sales for the six months ended Sept. 30, 1997, increased 28.1 percent to $352.4 million, compared to $275.0 million for the same period of fiscal year 1997. Net income for the six months ended Sept. 30, 1997, was $7.7 million, up 28.4 percent over the previous fiscal year's first six months net income of $6.0 million. Earnings per share for the first six months of fiscal year 1998 was $1.08 per share on 7.1 million shares, an increase of 24.1 percent versus the prior fiscal year's earnings per share of $0.87 per share on 6.9 million shares. "We are extremely pleased with Daisytek's net sales and net income growth of 30% over last year's second quarter," said Mark C. Layton, president, chief executive officer and chief operating officer. "Our international computer supplies business units in Canada, Mexico, Australia and Latin America continue to be significant engines of our company's growth. We also saw solid growth in our domestic computer supplies business this quarter, primarily driven by our retail superstore customers, contract stationers and large value-added resellers. Our near term outlook for our domestic business, considering the maturing of this market and the much larger revenue base from which we operate today, is for the domestic growth rate to settle. Internationally, we are experiencing strongly expanding markets and are continuing to look for other areas of international opportunity." "We are very pleased that we maintained a stable selling, general and administrative ("SG&A") expense as a percentage of net sales, indicating that we continue to drive our overall productivity in our core business units," Layton added. "This has allowed us to reinvest for our future, especially in Priority Fulfillment Services (PFS), our call center and logistics-providing 6 Daisytek Second Quarter Earnings - Page 2 subsidiary. PFS boasted record revenue this past quarter, while adding two additional outsourcing arrangements from its existing customer base. We continue to see long-term opportunities for PFS to enhance the company's overall gross profit and operating margin percentages. We have made recent additions to our PFS management team's expertise, and continue to explore different business strategies to provide expanded infrastructure for PFS." In a move to maintain and maximize the company's return, Daisytek today announced its decision not to match what the Company's management believes is an aggressively low bid by a competitor for the business at one of the company's largest customers. "To match this bid, in our opinion, would result in a substantial operating profit loss for the sales made to this customer, and would result in material service issues in certain products for this customer," Layton said. "Matching the pricing levels for this business was clearly inconsistent with our mission to maximize our return on capital and, we believe, was not in our best interest." Daisytek also announced today that it is in the due diligence process for a potential acquisition target. The Company will continue to actively pursue acquisition opportunities as a result of its growth strategy to expand its product offering into higher gross margin categories through new product introductions and acquisitions. It is not possible at this time, however, to determine the likelihood that the Company will ultimately acquire this target. Daisytek is the world's leading distributor of computer and office automation supplies and accessories, such as inkjet and toner cartridges, diskettes and other data-storage media, copier supplies and printer ribbons. Serving more than 24,000 customer locations in over 50 countries, Daisytek distributes in excess of 8,000 consumable products from more than 150 manufacturers. Leading manufacturers Daisytek represents include Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Canon, Epson, Kodak, Okidata, Lexmark, IBM, Imation, Apple, Xerox, Panasonic, and Digital Equipment Corporation. Through its strategic alliance with FedEx, Daisytek provides next business day delivery throughout North America to its customers. Daisytek is headquartered in Plano, Texas, and maintains sales and distribution centers in Miami, Memphis, Mexico City, Sydney, Toronto, and Vancouver. More information about Daisytek is available at http://www.daisytek.com. - financial statements follow - The matters discussed in this news release and, in particular, information regarding future revenue, earnings and business plans and goals, consist of forward-looking information under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to and involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic conditions, industry trends, integration of acquired business units, the dependence upon and/or loss of key suppliers or customers, the loss of strategic product shipping relationships, customer demand, product availability, competition (including pricing and availability), concentrations of credit risk, distribution efficiencies, capacity constraints, technological difficulties, risk of international operations including exchange rate fluctuations and the regulatory and trade environment (both domestic and foreign). A description of these factors, as well as other factors which could affect the Company's business, is set forth in the Company's Prospectus dated Jan. 24, 1996, and the Company's 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1997. 7 Daisytek Second Quarter Earnings - Page 3 Daisytek International Corporation and Subsidiaries Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Operations (In Thousands, Except Per Share Data) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended September 30, September 30, ------------------------------- -------------------------------- 1997 1996 %Change 1997 1996 %Change --------- --------- ------- --------- --------- ------- NET SALES $ 179,568 $ 138,148 30.0% $ 352,380 $ 275,042 28.1% COST OF SALES 161,697 124,559 29.8% 317,203 247,783 28.0% --------- --------- --------- --------- Gross profit 17,871 13,589 31.5% 35,177 27,259 29.0% SELLING, GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES 11,052 8,397 31.6% 21,635 16,703 29.5% --------- --------- --------- --------- Income from operations 6,819 5,192 31.3% 13,542 10,556 28.3% INTEREST EXPENSE 552 413 33.7% 1,071 845 26.7% --------- --------- --------- --------- Income before income taxes 6,267 4,779 31.1% 12,471 9,711 28.4% PROVISION FOR INCOME TAXES 2,398 1,824 31.5% 4,773 3,715 28.5% --------- --------- --------- --------- NET INCOME $ 3,869 $ 2,955 30.9% $ 7,698 $ 5,996 28.4% ========= ========= ========= ========= NET INCOME PER COMMON SHARE $ 0.54 $ 0.43 25.6% $ 1.08 $ 0.87 24.1% ========= ========= ========= ========= WEIGHTED AVERAGE COMMON SHARES OUTSTANDING 7,210 6,921 7,117 6,915 ========= ========= ========= ========= 8 Daisytek International Corporation Page 4 Daisytek International Corporation and Subsidiaries Consolidated Balance Sheet Data (In Thousands) September 30, March 31, 1997 1997 ------------- --------- (Unaudited) Trade accounts receivable, net $ 94,160 $ 90,446 Inventories, net of Priority Fulfillment Services Division $ 54,957 $ 54,426 Inventories, Priority Fulfillment Services Division $ 10,224 $ 10,354 Long-term debt, less current portion $ 30,716 $ 30,454 Shareholders' equity $ 78,071 $ 67,193 -###-