British Columbia, Canada-based Polaris Minerals Corp. reports that its third-quarter earnings increased 22 percent compared with last year.
Polaris is attributing the earnings growth to a 13-percent increase in sales volume.
For the first nine months of 2010 revenue increased 11 percent and sales volumes increased by 7 percent compared with the prior period.
Polaris says it incurred a net loss in the quarter of $3.8 million ($0.07 loss per share), due primarily to continuing low sales volumes, compared with a net loss of $5.2 million ($0.10 loss per share) in the comparative quarter last year.
“Third-quarter sales were encouraging and in common with the industry, we believe that the bottom of this severe recession has been reached,” Herb Wilson, Polaris Minerals President and CEO, said in the Polaris earnings statement announcement. “Next year should see the beginning of a sustained recovery, the pace of which will be reassessed as the impacts of the recent political changes become apparent. Shipments in the final quarter of 2010, however, will be less than last year as reduced shipping capacity is available because of routine dry docking requirements.”
For the nine months ending Sept. 30, 2010, the company incurred a net loss of $13.6 million ($0.25 loss per share) compared with a net loss of $10.0 million ($0.19 loss per share) in the prior year.
The loss for the quarter was negatively impacted by an accrual of $0.9 million (nine months total $1.2 million) for annual minimum volume penalties to the Company’s shipper, a direct consequence of the lower volumes than anticipated. The nine-month loss was also impacted by a one-time net charge of $4.2 million as a result of restructuring the company’s shipping contracts.
