UPDATE: Newmont Mining Posts $2 Billion Quarterly Loss August 02, 2007: 01:12 PM EST
SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- Newmont Mining Corp. swung to a second-quarter net loss as the mining company unwound its gold hedges and quit its merchant- banking operation, financial results showed Thursday.
The Denver-based miner (NEM) said it lost $2.06 billion, or $4.57 a share, in the three months ended June 30, a reversal from the $161 million, or 36 cents a share, earned in the second quarter of 2006.
A charge for writing down the value of the merchant-banking operation accounted for $1.67 billion of that loss, and Newmont said it took a $460 million charge for settling price-capped forward contracts.
Including only continuing operations, the company said it would have posted a loss of $406 million, or 90 cents a share, for the second quarter.
It wasn't immediately clear whether those results were direct comparisons with Wall Street forecasts and its own.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had been expecting earnings of 22 cents a share, on average. Early in July, the company told investors that operating earnings for the second quarter would be little changed from the first quarter, when earnings were 15 cents a share.
Revenue rose 0.7% to $1.3 billion, topping analysts' average forecast calling for $1.1 billion. Equity gold sales, representing sales just from its stakes in joint mines, fell 10% to 1.25 million ounces, but average realized prices rose 10% to $667 an ounce.
NEM Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
