Business News
Polaris announces 2008 second quarter results and conference call
2008-08-12 18:27:00
VANCOUVER, Aug. 12 /EMWNews/ - Polaris Minerals Corporation (TSX:PLS) today reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2008. All financial results are in US Dollars, unless otherwise noted. During the quarter the Company generated an adjusted EBITDA of $266,000 (2007: loss of $279,000) and a gross margin from operations of $397,000, or $0.79 per ton. Revenues increased 49% in the quarter to $6.57 million compared with $4.40 million for the quarter ending June 30, 2007, which was the second operating quarter for the Company. Cash used for operations during the quarter has reduced to $220,000 from $1.8 million in the first quarter of 2008. At June 30, 2008, the Company had cash and cash equivalents on hand of $8.27 million and, with the exception of capital leases on certain items of mobile plant, had no debt. Loss from operations for the quarter, net of stock-based compensation, was $1.41 million, compared with a loss of $868,000 in the quarter ended June 30, 2007. The Company's net loss reported was $1.93 million, ($0.05 per share) compared with a net loss of $1.21 million ($0.03 per share) for the quarter ended June 30, 2007. This increased loss is attributable to higher staffing and business development costs as the Company maintains its high rate of activity in terminal and market development. Marco Romero, Polaris President & CEO, said: "We had a solid second quarter, with a substantial improvement in cash used by operations and an improved gross margin. The margin improvements were principally due to price increases realized in the market and the 63% increase in volume throughput at the Richmond Terminal during the quarter, which were tempered by increasing fuel costs in shipping. Our sales contracts allow for the recovery of these increased fuel costs during the following year, and there is therefore a timing delay in the recovery of these expenses." Commenting on 2008, Mr. Romero said: "Our strong growth continued despite the slowdown in construction activity in California. We sold 500,000 tons of sand and gravel in the second quarter, bringing our sales total for the first two quarters to 1.02 million tons. Third quarter sales have been strong and we will ship more than 700,000 tons during the period. We anticipate shipping between 2.1 to 2.5 million tons in 2008, an increase of approximately 100 percent over 2007 shipments, at the mid point of this range. Our previously announced acquisition of the Pier B land in the Port of Long Beach, in collaboration with our Strategic Alliance partner, is due to close on or about August 18th, and will create a strategic point of entry into the massive Los Angeles metropolitan area market beginning early in 2011. We are increasingly well-positioned to benefit from the ongoing depletion of indigenous aggregate sources in California and the eventual increase in demand generated by infrastructure, commercial and residential construction activity." This financial summary should be read in conjunction with the Company's June 30, 2008 unaudited consolidated financial statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis, both of which will be available on http://www.sedar.com. Conference Call The Company will host a conference call at 7 am PT on Wednesday, August 13, 2008. Investors and other interested parties may access the teleconference live by calling 416.644.3430 or 800.814.4853 in North America or internationally and 00 800 2288 3501 from the United Kingdom. A live webcast of the conference call will be available through the link below: http://www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/viewEvent.cgi?eventID=2382160 The webcast will be archived for 90 days following the call. The conference call will be recorded and available for replay at 10 am PT and will be available until August 27. In North America dial 416.640.1917, and for international calls, dial 877.289.8525. The access code to hear the recording is 21280416 followed by the pound sign. Polaris Minerals Corporation is exclusively focused on the development of quarries and the production of construction aggregates in British Columbia for marine transport to urban markets on the west coast of North America to meet growing local supply deficits. In 2007, Polaris began shipping sand and gravel from the Orca Quarry to San Francisco Bay, Vancouver, BC and Hawaii. This press release contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements and information appear in this document and include estimates, forecasts, information and statements as to management's expectations with respect to, among other things the future financial or operating performance of the Company, costs and timing of the development of the construction aggregate quarry, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital and operating expenditures, requirements for additional capital, government regulation of quarrying operations, environmental risks, reclamation expenses, and title disputes. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "will", "should", "plans", "expects", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "budget", and "scheduled" or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements and information are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements and information are not guarantees and there can be no assurance that such statements and information will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's Annual Report and under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form (AIF) in respect of its financial year-ended December 31, 2007, both of which are filed with Canadian regulators on SEDAR (http://www.sedar.com). The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements and information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. All written and oral forward-looking statements and information attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements.
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