Exhibit 99.1
WALTER INDUSTRIES ANNOUNCES SIGNIFICANT INCREASE TO LONG-TERM MINE
PRODUCTION PLAN AT JIM WALTER RESOURCES
PR Newswire -- May 18, 2005
TAMPA, Fla., May 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Walter Industries, Inc.
(NYSE: WLT) announced today that Jim Walter Resources is increasing its
long- term metallurgical coal production estimates. The revised plan
calls for an additional 4.4 million tons of low-vol metallurgical coal
to be mined and available for sale, primarily over the 2006 - 2009
period.
The revised plan is principally the result of accelerating the
previously announced $135 million east expansion of Mine No. 7, a
significant improvement in the longwall advance rate in the Mine No. 7
north panel and the development of Mine No. 7's southwest longwall
panel. The expansion will be facilitated by the addition of new longwall
shields and increased hoist capacity at Mine No. 7. All planned
production capacity increases will consist of low-vol metallurgical coal
as follows (in millions of tons of coal):
2006 2007 2008 2009
---- ---- ---- ----
Increase in Capacity 0.4 1.4 1.8 0.7
New Expected Capacity 6.9 7.9 7.9 8.8
"Our leadership team at Jim Walter Resources has again demonstrated
their ability to uncover opportunities to expand production and
capitalize on the continued strong worldwide metallurgical coal
markets," said Don DeFosset, Chairman and CEO of Walter Industries. "Not
only are we increasing capacity more rapidly than originally projected,
but we will achieve these production increases by accelerating, but not
increasing, our capital spending."
Walter Industries, Inc. is a diversified company with revenues of $1.5
billion. The Company is a leader in affordable homebuilding, related
financing, and water transmission products, and is a significant
producer of high-quality metallurgical coal for worldwide markets. Based
in Tampa, Fla., the Company employs approximately 5,100 people. For more
information about Walter Industries, please call Joe Troy, Senior Vice
President-Financial Services at (813) 871-4404, or visit the Company Web
site at http://www.walterind.com .
Safe Harbor Statement
Except for historical information contained herein, the statements in
this release are forward-looking and made pursuant to the safe harbor
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties that may cause the Company's actual results in future
periods to differ materially from forecasted results. Those risks
include, among others, changes in customers' demand for the Company's
products, changes in raw material, labor, equipment and transportation
costs and availability, geologic and weather conditions, changes in
extraction costs and pricing in the Company's mining operations, changes
in customer orders, pricing actions by the Company's competitors, the
collection of approximately $14 million of receivables associated with a
working capital adjustment arising from the sale of a subsidiary in
2003, potential changes in the mortgage-backed capital market, and
general changes in economic conditions. Risks associated with
forward-looking statements are more fully described in the Company's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes
no duty to update its outlook statements as of any future date.
SOURCE Walter Industries, Inc.
-0- 05/18/2005
/CONTACT: Joe Troy, Senior Vice President-Financial Services, Walter
Industries, +1-813-871-4404/
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/Web site: http://www.walterind.com /