Atlantic Coal slides after posting widening of annual losses

Atlantic Coal dropped into the red on Monday after reporting a widening of full-year losses, hit by lower sales volumes and low prices towards the end of the year.Sales for the 12 months totalled $18.4m, down from $19.7m the previous year, hit by the worst winter in Pennsylvania for 20 years, which it said severely curtailed production in the first quarter of 2014 with particular problems of washing anthracite at consistently low temperatures.However, it recovered throughout the rest of the year to achieve record production at the Stockton mine of 165,046 tons.Chairman Adam Wilson said that although working and trading conditions have been difficult at times, the company has laid the foundations for a sound future going forward, which is already bearing fruit as we progress through the first part of 2015.He said: "2014 has seen a lot of exciting and positive developments at Stockton Mine, which are feeding through into our performance for 2015 and provide us with a sound basis for optimism going forward. That said, despite record production it was disappointing not to make a profit. "