Atlas Mining reports wider net loss in 2016

LISTED firm Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. on Wednesday reported a wider net loss of P879 million in 2016, the second straight year that the miner landed in the red amid an ongoing cost and efficiency program.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Atlas said it registered a consolidated net loss of P879 million in 2016, which was 8 percent bigger than the net loss of P814 million recorded in 2015.

Atlas attributed the wider loss to a one-time provision on disputed input tax credits worth P495 million. Excluding this, the company’s underlying net loss was P384 million, representing a 53 percent improvement on the prior year.

“Operational efficiencies and cost optimization have been the key strategies of Atlas Mining during the recent period of lower copper prices,” the company said.

It said revenues reached P12.08 billion, up by 7 percent from 2015, on the higher volume of copper shipments and sales of gold, which helped temper the lower copper prices in the world market.

Copper revenue improved by 2 percent due to the increase in concentrates shipped, which rose 4 percent from 169,304 dry metric tons ( DMT) of copper concentrates in 2015 to 176,130 DMT in 2016.

The higher shipment volume offset the drop in copper price, which fell 10 percent to $2.21 per pound last year from $2.46 per pound in the previous year.

Gold revenue increased 34 percent as a result of higher shipment volume and prices. Shipment volume increased by 4,879 ounces to 32,211 ounces, while the average price rose to $ 1,241/ oz in 2016 from $ 1,154/ oz the year before.

It said additional revenue was also realized from the sale of 25,000 DMT of magnetite for P12 million.

With higher revenues and lower cash operating costs, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) improved by 46 percent to P3.17 billion from P2.17 billion.