* Net loss 14.5 million euros, vs forecast 3.4 mln profit
* Revenue from continuing operations up 37 percent
* Keeps production targets, CFO says dividend still likely
* NWR shares fall more than 9 pct in early trade
* Prague index <> falls 2.5 pct by 0900 GMT
(Adds shares, analyst comment)
By Jason Hovet
PRAGUE, May 19 (Reuters) - A sell-down in inventories pushed
coal miner New World Resources (NWR) <NWRS.L> <NWRSsp.PR> back
to a loss in the first quarter, missing expectations for a
second straight quarterly profit.
NWR shares lost more than 9 percent early before paring
losses to trade down 8.28 percent at 232.5 crowns in Prague by
0900 GMT.
The reduction in inventories, built up at the beginning of
2009 when the economic crisis hit demand from customers such as
Arcelor Mittal Steel, U.S. Steel and Moravia Steel, knocked 71
million euros ($88 million) off earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the quarter.
However, analysts expect the shares to bounce back some even
after slipping 23 percent since hitting a 19-month high on April
15, a day after NWR announced year-ahead contracts with prices
up to 87 percent higher than in 2009.
Analysts said those contracts, in effect since April, would
drive the company's profit from the second quarter.
Atlantik FT analyst Petr Novak estimated that EBITDA in
April alone would equal the first-quarter result of 57 million
euros. He estimated the full-year EBITDA result would reach
about 10-times the first-quarter result.
"The first quarter was low, but was expected to be low," he
said. "The market knows the performance will change from the
second quarter."
NWR posted a 14.5 million euro ($18 million) first-quarter
net loss, versus a forecast for a 3.4 million euro profit, on
the inventory reduction and foreign exchange costs.
The net figure included a 1.2 million euro profit from
discontinued operations. NWR agreed to sell its NWR Energy
subsidiary in January for 122 million euros.
NWR reported revenue from continuing operations, which
exclude the energy unit, rose 37 percent year-on-year to 329
million euros. It said a gradual recovery in coal markets
continued and kept a 2010 production outlook of 11.5 million
tonnes of coal.
Chief Financial Officer Marek Jelinek said inventory levels
were at levels below what the company though was optimal, and
reiterated the likelihood of resuming interim dividend payments
after a year-long hiatus.
"If we see good results for the interim period, for the
first half of this year, which appears likely, and unless the
market outlook changes suddenly, which appears unlikely this
moment, I think the likelihood of a dividend exists," he said.
(Reporting by Jason Hovet; Editing by Dan Lalor and Sharon
Lindores)
($1 = 0.8054 euro)
