James River Coal Announces Loss

{Richmond, Virginia}...Richmond, Virginia-based James River Coal announced Wednesday that its third-quarter loss widened as weak demand drove down prices and it experienced higher costs. The company reported a net loss of $20.6 million, or 59 cents per share, for the July-September quarter. That is larger than its loss of $3.7 million, or 11 cents per share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, the company said it lost $1.21, compared with Wall Street expectations for an adjusted loss of $1.05 per share. Revenue fell 5 percent to $288.1 million as coal sales fell about 9 percent to $264.6 million. Coal shipments were flat at 3.16 million tons. Analysts expected overall revenue of $265.7 million. James River said the cost of sales grew about 5 percent as freight and handling expenses nearly doubled.