Coal producer Patriot Coal Corp. (PCX) Tuesday reported a sharp decline in profit for the fourth quarter impacted mainly by restructuring and impairment charges. Quarterly revenues also dropped due to lower tons sold, partially offset by higher average selling prices.
Net income for the quarter plummeted to $10.87 million or $0.12 per share from $63.36 million or $0.82 per share a year ago. Net income and earnings per share were reduced by a $20.2 million restructuring and impairment charge related to coal reserves and infrastructure.
On average, twelve analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report loss of $0.40 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimate typically exclude one-time items.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for the quarter was $32.5 million, compared to negative $11.8 million in the year-ago quarter.
Revenues were $503.16 million, lower than $541.02 million in the last year period, as a result of lower tons sold, partially offset by higher average selling prices. Eight analysts estimated revenues of $525.31 million for the quarter.
Appalachia Mining Operations generated revenues of $430.81 million, down from $462.25 million in the prior year. Revenues from Illinois Basin Mining Operations declined to $63.82 million from $74.88 million in the comparable quarter.
The company sold 8.28 tons of coals in the quarter, lower than 9.40 million tons sold a year ago. Sales for the quarter included 6.7 million tons of thermal and 1.6 million tons of metallurgical coal. Sales volumes declined 1.1 million tons from the prior year, largely due to rationalized production earlier in 2009.
Depreciation, depletion and amortization was $49.59 million, up from $43.63 million in the previous year. Reclamation and remediation obligation expenses increased to $11.85 million from $7.53 million in the prior year.
For fiscal 2009, net income declined to $127.24 million or $1.49 per share from $142.73 million or $2.21 per share in the previous year. Total revenues for the year were $2.05 billion, up from $1.65 billion in the previous year. Ten analysts estimated a loss of $1.76 per share for the year on revenues of $2.06 billion.
Looking ahead, for fiscal 2010, the company now expects sales volume to be in a range of 33.0 million to 35.0 million tons. This includes metallurgical coal sales of at least 6.5 million tons, higher than 5.4 million tons sold in 2009.
Based on the expected volume, cost per ton is expected to be in the range of $53.00 to $57.00 for the Appalachia segment and $36.00 to $38.00 for the Illinois Basin segment, compared to $57.13 and $37.30 reported in 2009 for the Appalachia and Illinois Basin segments, respectively.
In Tuesday's regular trading session, PCX closed trading at $16.96 per share on the New York Stock Exchange. In the past 52-week range, shares have been trading in the range of $2.76 to $22.37.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.