Skystar Bio-Pharmaceutical Reports Second Quarter 2011 Results

XI'AN, CHINA--(Marketwire - August 22, 2011) - Skystar Bio-Pharmaceutical Company (NASDAQ: SKBI) ("Skystar" or the "Company"), a China-based manufacturer and distributor of veterinary medicines, vaccines, micro-organisms and feed additives, today reported unaudited second quarter fiscal year 2011 earnings, for the period ended June 30, 2011.

Second Quarter 2011 Highlights

  • Revenue increases 10% YoY to $9.1 million
    • Veterinary vaccines totaled $0.4 million, up 1.2% YoY
    • Veterinary medicines totaled $6.3 million, up 15% YoY
    • Feed additives totaled $0.4 million, up 6% YoY
    • Micro-organism products totaled $2.0 million, flat YoY
  • Gross margin of 49% for the second quarter of fiscal 2011 as compared to 53% in the year ago period
  • Net income of $1.5 million or $0.21 per fully diluted share, compared with net income of $2.4 million or $0.33 per fully diluted share in the year ago period
  • 6% increase in the number of distribution agents and direct customers from 1,026 in Q1 to 2,253 in Q2

First Half 2011 Financial Highlights

  • First half fiscal 2011 revenue increases 23% YoY to $16.2 million
  • Gross margin of 50% for the first half of fiscal 2011 as compared to 53% in the year ago period
  • Net income of $3.4 million or $0.48 per fully diluted share, compared with net income of $3.5 million or $0.49 per fully diluted share in the year ago period

Management Comments
Mr. Weibing Lu, Skystar Bio-Pharmaceutical's chairman and chief executive officer, commented, "Skystar is pleased with its second quarter performance in light of adverse market conditions. The Company has successfully funded product development internally and expanded its distribution footprint while still achieving revenue growth for the quarter as compared to the same period a year ago.

"The increase in research and development costs is necessary to remain competitive as the Company believes that it can no longer rely on making significant pre-payments for raw materials to protect its gross margins in the long term. We maintain a long term strategy for achieving sustained growth and profitability by periodically developing new high gross margin products according to demand and expanding manufacturing capability and distribution. In order to preserve market share and expand into new territories, we have not raised our sales prices as we believe our customers would not be able to absorb pricing increases in this environment and such an increase would erode our market share.

"During the second quarter, we made significant investments in R&D, staging initiatives to develop four new specialty high margin veterinary medication projects. We also successfully launched nine new veterinary medicines and six new feed additives and increased direct distribution channels by six percent as compared to the previous quarter. While this action has increased operating expenses for the quarter and reduced net income, we deemed the move necessary for expanding Skystar's diverse high margin product lines. Given current market conditions, we acknowledge that advanced purchases of raw materials has helped offset significantly higher raw material costs. However, in order to preserve our historical gross margins in the long term, we must continue to expand our distribution footprint and remain focused on developing and marketing our higher margin products.

"China has imposed policies to combat the effects of inflation and upwardly spiraling prices of the nation's food supply. As a result, wholesale market prices of meat became flat, negatively affecting the profits of some animal farmers. The diminished profitability has resulted in a reduction of animal farming and subsequently reduced some demand for our products. Wholesale meat prices have recently begun to increase to previous levels, and we expect farming to resume and demand for our products to return.

"Additionally, an ongoing drought in some regions of China has affected animal farming and aquaculture cultivation. The decreased supply of fresh water available for farming has adversely affected net sales of some of Skystar's products lines including pro-biotics and aquaculture.

"China's government has also started to put pressure on the animal husbandry industry to reduce its reliance on veterinary pharmaceuticals used in bringing animals to term for sale. These efforts are a commitment by China's government to increase the relative food safety for its citizens in addition to standardizing protocols of the animal husbandry industry itself.

"Due to several epidemics and concerns over food safety for China's food supply, the Ministry of Agriculture is delaying further inspections of veterinary pharmaceutical facilities. With this in mind, we believe that GMP certification of Skystar's new vaccine facility should be completed by the end of 2011.

"The fundamental challenge for Skystar is to utilize our industry expertise in staying on top of customer needs while maintaining profitability for our shareholders. China's overall market demand for animal based protein and the evolving commercial animal husbandry industry has not diminished and will drive the long term demand for our products, our growth, and our profitability for years to come.

"With this in mind, we believe that Skystar has taken the necessary measures to maintain our position as a market leader while weathering negative near term events. We value our shareholders and believe that we have positioned Skystar for long term growth in spite of a challenging operating environment and look forward to presenting our results and answering any investor questions concerning our operating environment during tomorrow's conference call," concluded Mr. Lu.

Financial Summary
Gross profit for second quarter 2011 was $4.5 million, up 2% from second quarter 2010. Gross margin for the period was 49%, a slight decrease from with historical year over year comparables.

Operating expenses for second quarter 2011 were $2.9 million, or 32% of total revenue, compared with $1.6 million or 20% of total revenue in the year ago period. Decreased G&A expenses were offset by increases in R&D and selling expenses resulting in a substantial increase in total operating expenses. Total operating expense increased 80% year over year, largely attributable to increased R&D costs.

R&D costs was $1.8 million, or less than 20% of revenue in the second quarter 2011, up from $0.2 million, or 2% of revenue during second quarter 2010. Our increased R&D efforts during the period ended June 30, 2011 included continuing to fund existing joint R&D projects with universities and launching four new R&D projects to develop new veterinary medications during the second quarter of 2011.

Selling expenses, which consist of commissions, advertising and promotion expenses, freight charges, and salaries, totaled $0.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2011 as compared to $0.4 million for the three months ended June 30, 2010, an increase of approximately 41.2%. This increase was primarily due to the increase in our shipping and handling costs related to delivering our products to customers as we continued to expand our market to remote areas, and to inflation pressure in China, which resulted in higher transportation and delivery costs.

Operating income decreased by 44% year over year to $1.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal year 2011, compared with $2.7 million in the same quarter a year ago, and operating margin decreased to 17% from 33% in the same period a year ago.

Net income for the second quarter of 2011 was $1.5 million, or $0.21 per fully diluted share. This compares to net income of $2.4 million or $0.33 per fully diluted share in the same quarter of 2010.

As of June 30, 2011, we had approximately $5.0 million in cash, current assets of $45.6 million and current liabilities of $8.6 million.

Fiscal 2011 Guidance
In light of the current economic environment, we are taking a conservative approach to financial guidance for fiscal year 2011. The Company confidently expects to generate full fiscal revenue in the range of $52.0 million to $55.0 million.

Conference Call & Webcast Information
Skystar will host a conference call at 7:45 a.m. ET on Tuesday, August 23, 2011 to review the Company's second quarter financial and operational performance. Mr. Weibing Lu, Skystar's chairman and chief executive officer, will host the call, which will be webcast live.

The webcast will be made available on the investor relations section of our corporate website at http://www.skystarbio-pharmaceutical.com. Telephone access to the conference call will also be available in North America by dialing +1 (877) 407-8031 or internationally by dialing +1 (201) 689-8031.

An audio replay of the conference call will be available approximately two hours following the conclusion of the call and for the following 30 day period. To access the replay in North America, dial +1 (877) 660-6853 or, when calling internationally, dial +1 (201) 612-7415, using replay account code # 286 and conference ID # 377360. An archived replay of the conference webcast will also be available on investor relations section of the Skystar corporate website at http://www.skystarbio-pharmaceutical.com.

To be added to the Company's email distribution for future news releases, please send your request to skystar@grayling.com.

About Skystar Bio-Pharmaceutical Company
Skystar is a China-based developer and distributor of veterinary healthcare and medical care products. Skystar has four product lines (veterinary medicines, micro-organisms, vaccines and feed additives) and over 250 products. Skystar has formed strategic sales distribution networks covering 29 provinces throughout China. For additional information, please visit http://www.skystarbio-pharmaceutical.com.

Financial Tables Follow

                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
             SKYSTAR BIO-PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARIES            
                                                                            
                         CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS                        
                                                                            
                     ASSETS                                                 
                                                    June 30,    December 31,
                                                      2011          2010    
                                                 ------------- -------------
                                                                            
CURRENT ASSETS:                                                             
  Cash                                           $   5,046,502 $   5,887,831
                                                                            
  Accounts receivable, net of allowance for                                 
   doubtful accounts of $345,736 and $339,031 as                            
   of June 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010,                                  
   respectively                                      3,979,063     4,977,850
  Inventories                                       16,146,631     7,202,223
  Deposits and prepaid expenses                     16,770,200    17,074,000
  Loans receivable                                   2,113,202     8,040,100
  Other receivables                                  1,563,512     1,558,775
                                                 ------------- -------------
    Total current assets                            45,619,110    44,740,779
                                                 ------------- -------------
                                                                            
PLANT AND EQUIPMENT, NET                            22,608,122    22,613,113
                                                                            
CONSTRUCTION-IN-PROGRESS                             6,249,534     1,590,720
                                                                            
OTHER ASSETS:                                                               
  Long-term prepayments                              1,222,130     1,454,226
  Long-term prepayments for acquisitions             4,901,402     4,806,352
  Intangible assets, net                             5,820,403     6,043,941
                                                 ------------- -------------
    Total other assets                              11,943,935    12,304,519
                                                 ------------- -------------
      Total assets                               $  86,420,701 $  81,249,131
                                                 ============= =============
                                                                            
      LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY                                  
                                                                            
CURRENT LIABILITIES:                                                        
  Accounts payable                               $     789,758 $     201,850
  Other payable and accrued expenses                 1,421,029     1,845,051
  Short-term loans                                   4,208,846     3,025,884
  Deposits from customers                            1,574,905     1,260,030
  Taxes payable                                         54,482       749,836
  Shares to be issued to related parties                79,575        53,050
  Due to related parties                               437,341       217,912
                                                 ------------- -------------
    Total current liabilities                        8,565,936     7,353,613
                                                 ------------- -------------
                                                                            
OTHER LIABILITIES:                                                          
  Deferred government grant                          1,005,550       986,050
  Warrant liability                                    323,992     1,419,639
                                                 ------------- -------------
    Total other liabilities                          1,329,542     2,405,689
                                                 ------------- -------------
      Total liabilities                              9,895,478     9,759,302
                                                 ------------- -------------
                                                                            
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES                                               
                                                                            
SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY                                                        
  Preferred stock, $0.001 par value, 50,000,000                             
   shares authorized, No Series "A" shares                                  
   authorized 48,000,000 Series "B" shares                                  
   authorized, No Series "B" shares issued and                              
   outstanding                                                              
  Common stock, $0.001 par value, 40,000,000                                
   shares authorized, 7,161,919 shares issued                               
   and outstanding as of June 30, 2011 and                                  
   December 31, 2010, respectively                       7,162         7,162
  Paid-in capital                                   35,784,378    35,784,378
  Statutory reserves                                 5,695,236     5,695,236
  Retained earnings                                 28,286,512    24,847,290
  Accumulated other comprehensive income             6,751,935     5,155,763
                                                 ------------- -------------
    Total shareholders' equity                      76,525,223    71,489,829
                                                 ------------- -------------
      Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $  86,420,701 $  81,249,131
                                                 ============= =============
                                                                               
                                                                            
            SKYSTAR BIO-PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARIES             
                                                                            
      CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME AND OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME      
                                                                            
                                                                            
                        For Three Months Ended    For Six Months Ended June 
                               June 30,                      30,            
                     --------------------------  -------------------------- 
                          2011          2010          2011          2010    
                     -------------  -----------  -------------  ----------- 
                                                                            
REVENUE, NET         $   9,096,141  $ 8,264,541  $  16,183,095  $13,133,784 
                                                                            
COST OF REVENUE          4,637,007    3,905,063      8,128,353    6,196,282 
                     -------------  -----------  -------------  ----------- 
                                                                            
GROSS PROFIT             4,459,134    4,359,478      8,054,742    6,937,502 
                     -------------  -----------  -------------  ----------- 
                                                                            
OPERATING EXPENSES:                                                         
  Research and                                                              
   development           1,801,551      192,088      2,089,023      236,083 
  Selling expenses         609,826      431,810        979,230      602,944 
  General and                                                               
   administrative          515,293      998,034      1,810,091    1,617,584 
                     -------------  -----------  -------------  ----------- 
    Total operating                                                         
     expenses            2,926,670    1,621,932      4,878,344    2,456,611 
                     -------------  -----------  -------------  ----------- 
                                                                            
INCOME FROM                                                                 
 OPERATIONS              1,532,464    2,737,546      3,176,398    4,480,891 
                     -------------  -----------  -------------  ----------- 
                                                                            
OTHER INCOME                                                                
 (EXPENSE):                                                                 
  Other income                                                              
   (expense), net           (4,549)      36,257         (4,367)      36,674 
  Interest income                                                           
   (expense), net          (98,973)     (12,976)       (69,301)     (17,792)
  Change in fair                                                            
   value of                                                                 
   derivative                                                               
   liability               360,153      158,054      1,095,647     (159,326)
                     -------------  -----------  -------------  ----------- 
    Total other                                                             
     expense, net          256,631      181,335      1,021,979     (140,444)
                     -------------  -----------  -------------  ----------- 
                                                                            
INCOME BEFORE                                                               
 PROVISION FOR                                                              
 INCOME TAXES            1,789,095    2,918,881      4,198,377    4,340,447 
                                                                            
PROVISION FOR INCOME                                                        
 TAXES                     281,705      540,486        759,155      865,805 
                     -------------  -----------  -------------  ----------- 
                                                                            
NET INCOME               1,507,390    2,378,395      3,439,222    3,474,642 
                                                                            
OTHER COMPREHENSIVE                                                         
 INCOME :                                                                   
  Foreign currency                                                          
   translation                                                              
   adjustment            1,130,579      280,998      1,596,172      240,182 
                     -------------  -----------  -------------  ----------- 
                                                                            
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME $   2,637,969  $ 2,659,393  $   5,035,394  $ 3,714,824 
                     =============  ===========  =============  =========== 
                                                                            
EARNINGS PER SHARE:                                                         
  Basic              $        0.21  $      0.33  $        0.48  $      0.49 
                     =============  ===========  =============  =========== 
  Diluted            $        0.21  $      0.33  $        0.48  $      0.49 
                     =============  ===========  =============  =========== 
                                                                            
WEIGHTED AVERAGE                                                            
 NUMBER OF COMMON                                                           
 SHARES:                                                                    
  Basic                  7,169,419    7,104,606      7,168,176    7,083,149 
                     =============  ===========  =============  =========== 
  Diluted                7,169,419    7,140,518      7,174,888    7,119,846 
                     =============  ===========  =============  =========== 
                                                                              
                                                                            
            SKYSTAR BIO-PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARIES             
                   CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS                    
              FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED JUNE 30, 2011 AND 2010               
                                                                            
                                                 Six months ended June 30,  
                                               ---------------------------- 
                                                    2011           2010     
                                               -------------  ------------- 
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES:                                       
  Net income                                   $   3,439,222  $   3,474,642 
  Adjustments to reconcile net income to net                                
   cash provided by operating activities:                                   
      Depreciation                                   498,760        299,848 
      Amortization                                   385,722         77,133 
      Bad debt expense                                     -        287,561 
      Allowance for slow moving inventories                -         63,001 
      Common stock issued for services                     -         16,245 
      Common stock to be issued to related                                  
       parties for compensation                       26,525         70,367 
      Change in fair value of warrant                                       
       liability                                  (1,095,647)       159,326 
    Change in operating assets and liabilities                              
      Accounts receivable                          1,085,951     (3,584,456)
      Inventories                                 (8,711,510)    (9,252,221)
      Deposits and prepaid expenses                  (56,093)     7,729,174 
      Other receivables                              791,371        (56,090)
      Accounts payable                               577,915        253,565 
      Other payable and accrued expenses            (449,155)       (88,372)
      Deposits from customers                        286,977        349,949 
      Taxes payable                                 (702,883)       753,555 
                                               -------------  ------------- 
        Net cash (used in) provided by                                      
         operating activities                     (3,922,845)       553,227 
                                               -------------  ------------- 
                                                                            
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES:                                       
                                                                            
  Payments of long-term prepayments                 (307,642)             - 
  Prepayment for asset acquisition                         -     (5,518,478)
  Loans to third parties                          (2,847,846)             - 
  Collection of loans to third parties             8,871,193              - 
  Purchases of intangible assets                     (46,186)             - 
  Purchases of plant and equipment                   (51,222)    (2,136,531)
  Payments on construction-in-progress            (4,013,980)      (748,449)
                                                ------------  ------------- 
        Net cash provided by (used in)                                      
         investing activities                      1,604,317     (8,403,458)
                                               -------------  ------------- 
                                                                            
CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES:                                       
  Proceeds from short-term loans                   1,724,019              - 
  Repayment for short-term loans                    (612,440)      (220,035)
  Repayment to shareholders and directors                  -       (110,018)
  Due (from) to related parties                      190,630        (47,874)
                                               -------------  ------------- 
        Net cash provided by (used in)                                      
         financing activities                      1,302,209       (377,927)
                                               -------------  ------------- 
                                                                            
EFFECT OF EXCHANGE RATE CHANGES ON CASH              174,990         11,318 
                                               -------------  ------------- 
                                                                            
DECREASE IN CASH                                    (841,329)    (8,216,840)
                                                                            
CASH, beginning of period                          5,887,831     11,699,398 
                                               -------------  ------------- 
                                                                            
CASH, end of period                            $   5,046,502  $   3,482,558 
                                               =============  ============= 
                                                                            
SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURE OF CASH FLOW                                        
 INFORMATION:                                                               
  Cash paid for interest                       $     119,128  $       7,435 
                                               =============  ============= 
  Cash paid for income taxes                   $   1,262,699  $     578,055 
                                               =============  ============= 
  Non-cash investing and financing activities                               
    Long-term prepayment transferred to                                     
     construction-in-progress                  $     571,692  $           - 
                                               =============  ============= 
    Long-term prepayment transferred to                                     
     property, plant and equipment             $           -  $     439,897 
                                               =============  ============= 
    Construction-in-progress transferred to                                 
     property, plant and equipment             $           -  $   1,396,211 
                                               =============  ============= 
    Cashless exercise of warrants              $           -  $   1,511,604 
                                               =============  ============= 
    Issurance of common stock accrued in                                    
     previous year                             $           -  $      25,002 
                                               =============  ============= 



Contacts:

Skystar Bio-Pharmaceutical Company
Scott Cramer
Director - Corporate Development and U.S. Representative
(407) 645-4433

Grayling

Investor Relations
Christopher Chu
(646) 284-9426
christopher.chu@grayling.com

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