24th Sep 2014 10:01
LONDON (Alliance News) - Atlantic Coal PLC Wednesday said it swung to a loss in the first half of the year, as revenue declined due to the impact of adverse weather in the US at the start of the year and as it booked a big foreign exchange loss compared with a gain last year.
The company reported a net loss of USD271,921 for the six months to June 30, compared with a USD2.5 million profit a year earlier, as revenue dropped to USD9.4 million, from USD10.5 million, and it booked a foreign exchange loss of USD402,417, compared with a gain of USD1.6 million a year earlier.
It didn't detail the reason for the foreign exchange movements.
Atlantic Coal was hit hard in the first quarter when the its Stockton mine in Pennsylvania had to constantly stop or limit mining and washing coal amid the coldest and longest winter for 20 years. Its sales of anthracite to customers also suffered as problems on the highway network and railways over large parts of the US and Canada made it very difficult to get orders to customers.
However, the company said production recovered well in the second quarter, and production for the whole of the first half was 84,567 tonnes, up from 81,965 tonnes in the first half of 2013. However, sales were lower at 75,738 tonnes, compared with 77,075 tonnes in the first half of last year.
Atlantic Coal Managing Director Steve Best was more optimistic about the remainder of the year.
"Towards the end of the reporting period it became increasingly apparent that local anthracite production in Pennsylvania was not keeping pace with demand, a situation we correctly anticipated would continue. This gave the directors the confidence to make a significant investment in capital equipment, the impact of which we are already seeing, and which will ensure our ability to meet this increasing demand," he said in a statement.
Best added that the company is seeing a significant improvement in market demand but for anthracite, and prices are also going up as US steel production increases and the conflict in Ukraine increasingly turns that country from an exporter to an importer of anthracite.
"Consequently on 1 September 2014 we were able to increase the price of most grades of anthracite by USD10/ton and, as winter approaches with the usual seasonal increase in demand and prices, I look forward with confidence to the remainder of the year," Best added.
Still Atlantic Coal shares were down 10.8% at 0.165 pence Wednesday morning.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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