Patriot Coal Corporation reported its financial results for the quarter ended September 30th 2011. For the 2011 third quarter, the Company reported revenues of USD 589.4 million and EBITDA of USD 14.8 million. Revenues and EBITDA for the year-ago quarter were USD 500.7 million and USD 13.2 million, respectively. For the nine months ended September 30th 2011, the Company reported revenues of USD 1.8 billion and EBITDA of USD 133.6 million. Revenues and EBITDA for the first nine months of 2010 were USD 1.5 billion and USD 99.0 million respectively.
Financial Overview
Revenues in the 2011 third quarter were USD 589.4 million, compared with USD 500.7 million in the prior-year quarter. Higher revenues in the 2011 quarter resulted from higher selling prices, which increased more than USD 12.00 per ton or 18%. Revenues for the first nine months of 2011 were USD 1.8 billion, almost 20% higher than the USD 1.5 billion reported in the comparable 2010 period. Higher revenues were primarily attributable to significantly higher selling prices in 2011.
Sales in the third quarter totaled 7.4 million tons, including 5.6 million tons of thermal and 1.8 million tons of metallurgical coal. This compares with 5.9 million tons of thermal and 1.6 million tons of metallurgical coal sold in the year-ago quarter. Tons sold in the first nine months of 2011 of 23.5 million were comparable with the 23.1 million tons sold in the year-ago period. Year to date metallurgical coal sales were 5.6 million in 2011, a 0.5 million ton increase over the first nine months of 2010.
EBITDA in the 2011 third quarter was USD 14.8 million, slightly higher than the USD 13.2 million reported in the same quarter of 2010. Higher average selling prices in 2011 were largely offset by higher per-ton costs. EBITDA for the first three quarters of 2011 totaled USD 133.6 million, USD 34.6 million higher than the year ago period.
Mr Richard M Whiting president and CEO of Patriot said that "Looking forward, the outlook for metallurgical and export thermal coal remains solid, and we are seeing opportunities for increased profitability at Patriot. We are committed to the continued expansion of our met production. We are also targeting export thermal business, and over the past two quarters have sold more than 7 million tons of thermal coal for export delivery in 2012, sourced from both Appalachia and the Illinois Basin. And we will see the initial benefits of our expiring legacy thermal contracts as we enter 2012. At the same time, we are intensely focused on improving operating performance at our mining complexes."
Mr Whiting continued that "An important development during the quarter was the appointment of Ben Hatfield as our new Chief Operating Officer. Ben has more than 30 years of operating and commercial experience in the coal industry, including the CEO position at International Coal Group. He is intimately familiar with coal mining in Appalachia and is a proven leader. His experience and leadership will further strengthen our operations as we execute our strategies to build value.”
He added that "Further, during the quarter, certain of our subsidiaries signed new agreements with the United Mine Workers of America that generally extend through 2016. This ensures continued stability of our represented workforce.”
Commenting on the third quarter, Mr Mark N Schroeder senior vice president and chief financial officer of Patriot noted that "Our third quarter financial performance was well below our expectations. While our per-ton revenues were up substantially, lower tons produced at the two longwall mines had a significant negative impact on our average cost per ton and the resulting margins. Following the completion of the longwall moves, the mines were back to normal production by the end of September."
