Walter Energy Attributes Higher Sales Volume, Prices and Lower Costs to Stronger Q1 Performance

Walter Energy, Inc. (NYSE:WLT, TSX:WLT) announced that the combination of an increase of coal sales and prices with lower costs has contributed to a stronger performance in Q1 2013 over the final quarter in 2012, as reported in their preliminary Q1 results.

As quoted in the press release:

Walter Energy expects to report first quarter 2013 metallurgical coal sales volume of approximately 2.8 million metric tons, up approximately 9% compared with fourth quarter 2012. Average realized metallurgical coal sales prices are also expected to improve slightly compared with fourth quarter 2012, primarily due to a higher sales volume of low vol hard coking coal and a slight strengthening in the market. The improvement in pricing in the quarter was tempered by approximately 700,000 metric tons of carryover sales at fourth quarter 2012 pricing.

Walter Energy’s CEO, Walt Scheller, said:

Along with the progress we continue to make in our operations, we are also pleased with the recent actions taken to increase our financial flexibility. As to the current market, we have seen stronger demand and improved pricing, with second quarter benchmark prices of $172 per metric ton for hard coking coal and $141 per metric ton for low vol PCI. We believe all these factors position us well as we look ahead to the remainder of 2013.

To view the whole press release, click here.