one of the nation's largest distributors of propane, today reported operating results for the fiscal fourth quarter ended July 31.

Revenues for the quarter rose 27% to $449.7 million from $353.8 million the year before while gross profit declined slightly to $126.3 million reflecting the impact of sharply higher commodity prices on margins and customer demand. Despite continued customer conservation caused by a 46% increase in the wholesale cost of propane, fourth-quarter propane sales volumes grew by more than 6%.

President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Wambold commented, "Despite the continued impact of rising wholesale propane prices, we remain focused on both retaining and growing our customer base as evidenced by our fourth quarter sales volumes." Wambold further commented, "We were very pleased to announce the acquisition of Economy Propane last week furthering our efforts to expand our operations both organically as well as through acquisition."

Common unitholders' interest in net loss for the quarter was in-line at $40.5 million, or $0.53 per common unit, compared to the prior year net loss of $40.1 million, or $0.58 per common unit reflecting the seasonality in operations.

Wambold noted, "In addition to profitable growth, we remain focused on expense control driving shareholder value. We were again successful this quarter in controlling our operating expenses in the face of increased volume sales."

Operating expense for the quarter of $100.6 million reflected a 5% reduction in expense per gallon sold while general and administrative and equipment lease expense, as expected increased slightly to $12.9 million and $3.6 million, respectively. Interest expense was reduced by more than 10% to $23.7 million, primarily reflecting the positive impact of recent debt re-financings. For the quarter, Adjusted EBITDA was $10.1 million compared with $15.0 million achieved the year before.

Wambold concluded, "We continue to be pro-active in the financial markets, announcing this morning the re-financing of our $400 million working capital facility. The renewed facility both extends our working capital line of credit until September 2016 and reflects favorable market borrowing rates which will continue to reduce our annual interest expense."

Statements in this release concerning expectations for the future are forward-looking statements. A variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could cause results, performance and expectations to differ materially from anticipated results, performance and expectations. These risks, uncertainties and other factors are discussed in the Form 10-K of Ferrellgas Partners, L.P., Ferrellgas Partners Finance Corp., Ferrellgas, L.P., and Ferrellgas Finance Corp. for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2011, and other documents filed from time to time by these entities with the Securities and Exchange Commission.