Penrice Soda says it will report an underlying after-tax loss of AU$ 1.2M for the first half, due to a forced plant shutdown, sending shares to a record low. The company also says it is unlikely to achieve its full year profit guidance because demand for its soda ash & bicarbonate soda products have been hit by flooding in eastern Australia. The company was forced to shut down its chemical plant in Oct/2010, following the failure of its steam supplier's electricity & heating plant, which, along with a previous unplanned closure, had cost the company approximately AU$ 5M before tax. Penrice's half-year report, released 24 Feb/11, will include the receipt of an AU$ 0.5M progress payment on the company's insurance claims following these losses. Despite this, figures from Penrice's unaudited first half report show an improvement on net operating cash flow, which increased from AU$ 2.9M to AU$ 4.5M. The statement said it: "Reflected a substantial reduction in working capital & a turnaround in the Quarry & Mineral business cash flow to AU$ 0.1M from a cash outflow of AU$ 1.7M. However, Penrice said it had been impacted badly by the recent floods in eastern Australia, with reduced bicarbonate sales to stockfeed, reduced ash sales to glass & a forecast spike in the prices of coke raw material. As a result, sales until now in the second half were behind plan & Penrice said it was unlikely to meet underlying profit guidance of AU$ 5.6M. The company said the full extent of the floods impact was still uncertain, but a further update would be released regarding Penrice's half-year results.
