Cloud Peak Energy Inc one of the largest US coal producers and the only pure-play Powder River Basin coal company announced results for the first quarter of 2012.

2012 First Quarter Highlights

1. Adjusted EBITDA of USD 75.7 million in the first quarter of 2012 compared with USD 82.6 million in the first quarter of 2011.

2. Net income of USD 26.6 million resulting in Adjusted EPS(1) of USD 0.47 compared to net income of USD 26.8 million and Adjusted EPS of USD 0.44 in the first quarter of 2011.

3. Asian exports were up nearly 10% to 971,000 tons from 887,000 tons in the first quarter of 2011.

4. Cash and investments increased to USD 585.7 million as the Company generated cash from operations of USD 53.0 million and obtained release of USD 71.2 million of restricted cash.

Mr Colin Marshall president and CEO said that “Given the challenging domestic environment facing the industry, we are pleased with our strong balance sheet position and our operational and financial performance in the first quarter. Our strategy to enter a calendar year with our production essentially fully sold has again proven to be a prudent approach that enables us to plan our business and manage our costs. The Asian export market continues to be strong and we were able to incrementally increase our exports even while our main shipping terminal at Westshore completed a scheduled outage associated with its expansion work.”

Source - Cloud Peak Energy

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