CdA Mines reports record income
Higher metals prices helped Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. report record income for 2006.
The company reported net income of $88.5 million, or 30 cents per share, for last year. In comparison, Coeur d’Alene Mines reported a 2005 net income of $10.6 million, or 4 cents per share.
The 2006 results, released Thursday, included a one-time gain of $11.1 million on the sale of the Galena Mine and other properties in Idaho’s Silver Valley.
In other news, the company anticipates finishing the construction of the Kensington gold mine in Alaska this year, at a cost of about $238 million. The cost of construction was about $48 million higher than planned because of inflation and a legal challenge to the mine’s permits.
The Kensington should start producing gold in late 2007, company officials said. During the initial years of production, the mine is expected to produce about 150,000 ounces of gold, at costs of $310 per ounce. Gold is currently trading around $675 per ounce.
Denver
Gold companies show strong earnings
Two of the world’s largest gold mining companies reported robust fourth-quarter earnings Thursday due to higher selling prices, but said production will slow next year because of rising operating costs.
The production forecast likely will translate into higher gold prices in 2008 for both Newmont Mining Corp. and Barrick Gold Corp., speculated analyst Patrick Chidley, with Barnard Jacobs Mellet.
He noted that higher production costs have proven significant for the industry as a whole. “The gold price isn’t really high enough and probably will move higher,” he said.
For the quarter ending Dec. 31, Newmont reported net income of $223 million, or 49 cents per share, compared with $62 million, or 14 cents per share, in the prior-year quarter. Revenue rose to $1.46 billion from $1.29 billion in the comparable period of the previous year.
•Safeway Inc.’s fourth-quarter profit surged 77 percent to cap the grocer’s best performance in five years, a comeback driven by contentious cost cutting and a recent makeover that has infused more elegance into its stores.
Though the results released Thursday exceeded analyst expectations, the showing still wasn’t enough to satisfy investors disappointed by Safeway’s slowing sales growth and conservative outlook for this year. Safeway shares had dropped by more than 5 percent by early afternoon.
The company said it earned $307.9 million, or 69 cents per share, in the three months ended Dec. 30. That is compared with net income of $173.5 million, or 39 cents per share, at the same time in 2005.
Spokane
Sterling shareholders OK bank purchase
Sterling Financial Corp. shareholders have approved a $335-million deal to buy a Northern California bank.
Spokane-based Sterling’s acquisition of Northern Empire Bancshares will give it a commercial lending presence through 13 Sonoma National Bank offices in Sonoma, Marin and Contra Costa counties.
The agreement called for Northern Empire shares to be converted into .81 shares of Sterling common stock and $2.71 in cash.
The buyout was first announced in September, and is set to close Feb. 28.