Silver Wheaton Corp. said Thursday that writedowns on long-term investments led the company to a fourth-quarter loss and a significant narrowing of full-year profits.
The Vancouver-based company said it lost $54.2-million (U.S.) or 22 cents a share during the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008, reversing year-earlier profits of $24.9-million or 11 cents a share. Silver Wheaton reports its financial results in U.S. dollars.
The company, which describes itself as the largest publicly traded pure-play silver producer, reported quarterly sales of 2.7 ounces of silver, down from 3.5 ounces sold a year earlier.
Silver Wheaton reported a $64-million writedown of long-term assets during the quarter.
Silver Wheaton
A similar writedown of $65.1-million led to a drop in full-year profits, which fell to $17.3-million or seven cents per share from 2007 earnings of $91.9-million or 41 cents a share.Silver sales for 2008 dropped to 11.1 million ounces from 13.1 million ounces sold the year before.
Silver Wheaton is forecasting a reversal of its sales fortunes in the coming year, setting its outlook at between 15 million and 17 million ounces for 2009.
“With the onset of the global economic crisis, the strength of Silver Wheaton's business model has been clearly demonstrated,” chief executive Peter Barnes said in a statement.
“Despite a year of significant challenges, including less than anticipated silver deliveries from the Luismin mines in Mexico, we have continued to diversify our silver stream portfolio and have laid the groundwork for a significant increase in silver sales in 2009.”
