The Conversation (0)
Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:ANR) released the second quarter 2012 results, including an adjusted net loss of $72 million or $0.33 per diluted share, compared to adjusted net income of $152 million or $0.97 per diluted share last year.
Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:ANR) released the second quarter 2012 results, including an adjusted net loss of $72 million or $0.33 per diluted share, compared to adjusted net income of $152 million or $0.97 per diluted share last year.
Kevin Crutchfield, Alpha’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented:
These are extremely challenging times in the U.S. coal industry, with softness in both the thermal and now the metallurgical coal markets and the pace at which the fundamentals changed. Alpha has taken decisive actions to ensure that our business is both well-suited to today’s demand environment and efficient enough to provide us with the flexibility to ramp-up our world-class asset base once market conditions improve. We have continued to optimize our Central Appalachia operations by adjusting our footprint, idling high cost thermal coal and lower-quality metallurgical coal production while focusing on our higher-margin metallurgical products. Additionally, we have reduced our overhead expenses. Unfortunately, this occurred at a time of heightened and sustained unemployment rates and a very tepid economic recovery in the United States. We sincerely regret the impact our production curtailments have had on good employees and their families, but the market environment with which we are faced left us no other options. We will continue to evaluate market conditions and will make further adjustments if market conditions warrant.