Central African Mining & Exploration Swings To FY09 Loss

9/25/2009 4:50 AM ET

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(RTTNews) - Central African Mining & Exploration Company Plc, or CAMEC, (CFM.L: News ) Friday reported a loss for fiscal 2009, compared with a profit last year, hurt by higher cost of sales, impairments and write-downs and losses from the disposals of assets.

Loss attributable to equity holders of the company for the year was $343.07 million, compared with a profit of $74.98 million last year. Total full-year loss was $411.06 million versus a profit of $78.34 million in fiscal 2008.

Loss per share reached 13 cents compared with a profit of 5.6 cents in the previous year. Loss per share from continuing operations was 13 cents versus a profit of 5.5 cents in fiscal 2008.

The mining company also reported a full-year pre-tax loss of $414.91 million compared with a profit of $108.35 million in the prior year.

The company's impairments and write-offs for the year reached $312.01 million, compared with $6.49 million a year ago. The company also incurred a loss of $3.90 million on the disposal of business operations in fiscal 2009. In addition, the disposal of available-for-sale investments resulted in a loss of $32.75 million, compared with a gain of $65.21 million last year.

CAMEC also reported full-year revenues of $223.14 million, up from $188.41 million in the previous year, driven by the sale of minerals, logistics services and agricultural products. While revenue from continuing operations reached $223.1 million, discontinued operations contributed revenues of $9.9 million in fiscal 2009.

The company' sales of minerals were $177.73 million for the year, up from $153.35 million a year ago. Sales of logistic services rose to $45.29 million from $33.44 million in the previous year. Meanwhile, sales of other products decreased to $116 thousands from $1.61 million in fiscal 2008.

The company's fiscal 2009 cost of sales surged to $233.41 million from $70.09 million a year earlier.

The company also said that its directors do not currently propose to pay a dividend.

On September 18, 2009, CAMEC had announced the terms of a recommended cash offer for the company from Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. Plc, or ENRC, at 20 pence per share. CAMEC said that ENRC has already secured approximately 55.18% of the share capital of CAMEC through a combination of irrevocable undertakings, letters of intent and share acquisitions. The company also said that its directors are unanimously recommending its shareholders to accept the offer.