Catalyst Paper reported a net loss of $28.0 million ($1.93 per common share) for the second quarter of 2013, a period heavily impacted by maintenance downtime.
Before specific items, the net loss was $18.1 million. Specific items in Q2 included a $2.1 million gain on the sale of the Elk Falls industrial site, a non-cash loss on the mandatory redemption of Exit Notes of $2.3 million and a $9.6 million non-cash loss on the effect of foreign exchange on our US dollar denominated debt. This compares with the Q1 net loss of $9.8 million ($0.89 per common share) and $11.6 million net loss before specific items.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation (EBITDA) and EBITDA before restructuring costs in the second quarter were negative $0.6 million and negative $0.5 million respectively.
Revenues of $263.4 million for the quarter were up from the prior quarter, reflecting higher sales vansaction prices for newsprint and pulp, as well as the effect of the weaker Canadian dollar. Pulp sales volume was up over the same quarter of 2012 as was the transaction price.
Increased paper sales volumes, higher transaction prices for pulp and a weaker Canadian dollar did not offset the higher costs in the quarter arising from maintenance, electricity rate increases and re-imposition of the provincial sales tax (PST) effective April 1st.
Cash flow from operations increased by $11.2 million and liquidity improved by $63.1 million from the same period last year, due in part to borrowing base improvements, asset sale proceeds and a return to more normalized vendor payment terms since the company’s exit from creditor protection.
Markets for all the company’s paper products remain challenging and demand trended down overall compared to the same period of the prior year. Newsprint and directory showed the steepest decline at 8.9% and 15.2% respectively, while the decline in specialty coated at 4.9% and specialty uncoated at 1.3% was less pronounced.
