Charges hurt Cyprus’ 1992 results

Special charges against 1992 earnings pushed Cyprus Minerals (NYSE) well into the red with a loss of US$333.6 million, or about US$8.46 per share.

The loss resulted from special charges totalling US$426.1 million relating to company writedowns, reorganization expenses and a onetime charge for several required accounting changes.

Excluding the special charges, Cyprus earnings totalled US$92.5 million, or about US$2 per share.

Earnings before write-downs and charges in 1991 totalled US$74.5 million, or about US$1.53 per share.

The company noted that the improvement in continuing operations from 1991 to 1992 was primarily due to improved results from the coal operations and to company-wide personnel and cost reductions.

Milton Ward, president and chief executive officer, said the improvement in operating results in 1992 reflects substantial progress in reducing costs and increasing productivity in Cyprus’ primary businesses of copper, coal and lithium.

The company writedowns during the year totalled US$315 million and primarily reflect weakened market conditions in certain regional coal markets and the steel industry.

On a segmented basis, copper operations earned US$116.5 million, US$11.3 million lower than in 1991.

Coal operations reported earnings of US$41.4 million, up US$27 million from 1991 levels. The improved results were due to increased sales, up 1.5 million tons to 18.8 million tons, as well as a drop in full-mine costs of US$1.50 per ton.

Other minerals, including lithium, gold, iron ore, and exploration, had combined earnings of US$12.2 million during the year, up from US$2.4 million in 1991.

Lithium operations had record earnings of US$23.3 million during the year while gold earned US$9.8 million and iron ore lost US$4.9 million. Exploration spending during 1992 totalled US$19.1 million.