Central African Mining & Exploration Company Plc, or CAMEC, (CFM.L) 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.
CFM.L is trading at 19.50 pence on the LSE, down 0.25 pence, on a volume of 3.75 million shares.
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