Despite the recession and weak commodity prices, Toronto-based nickel refiner and fertilizer producer Sherritt Gordon (TSE) stemmed the flow of red ink in 1991 to report a profit.
For the year ended Dec. 31 net earnings were $1.2 million or 4 cents a share on revenues of $384.2 million compared to a loss of $32.4 million or $1.29 per share on revenue of $345.2 million in the previous year. The company also turned a profit despite a fourth-quarter loss of $2.3 million or 8 cents a share. In the final quarter of 1990, Sherritt Gordon lost $31.3 million or $1.25 per share.
Sherritt Gordon said results in 1991 include a $5-million or 9 cents-per-share charge against earnings, to allow for severance and pension expenses related to reductions in the company’s workforce.
Losses reported in 1990 included a non-recurring writedown relating to Sherritt Gordon’s older fertilizer assets and a onetime provision for future site restoration costs, equivalent to 91 cents per share.
Chairman Ian Delaney attributed the increase in revenues from 1990-91 to higher sales volumes in the metals sector and to technology licensing revenue, plus oil and gas sales at newly acquired Canada Northwest Energy. He said the company intends to remain profitable by pursuing its cobalt and natural gas businesses and by intensifying development of its advanced industrial materials products.
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