Atlantic Coal to raise production, looking at acquisitions

AIM listed Pennsylvania based coal mining outfit Atlantic Coal has today published its results for the 2010 calendar year. During the period under review the company's revenues grew by 18.5%, to $10.72m, but its cost of goods sold grew by far more, by 74%, to $12.7m. The above discrepancy resulted in a loss for the company, before taxes, of $5.091m, versus -$2.57m the year before. The company's Board is optimistic that prices will remain strong during the second quarter of 2011. As well, it points out that it expects the reduction seen in its costs of goods sold, towards the end of 2010 and in the first quarter of 2011, to continue. As for highlights for the year, the company brought a second excavator into production in the second quarter of 2010 and expects yet another hydraulic excavator to commence work in the first quarter of 2012. The firm has also called attention to the fact that it is in the process of ramping up production, and on target to produce an estimated 300,000 tons of run-of mine coal for 2011, in comparison with 207,873 last year. Also of interest, management says that, "Furthermore, with a healthy cash position we believe that we are well placed to execute our strategy of acting as a regional consolidator with a view to increasing our resource base. In line with this, we continue to evaluate potential acquisition targets and look forward to updating shareholders on our developments."As of 11:20AM shares of Atlantic Coal are falling by 1.6% to 61p in London trading. ab