* EPS C$0.40/share v year-ago C$0.25/share
* Revenue rises 45 percent to C$237.6 million
* Driller cuts capital spending for fiscal 2013 by 30 pct
* Sees strong demand from majors, mid-tiers; juniors to
decline
Sept 5 (Reuters) – Major Drilling Group International Inc
reported record quarterly earnings on Wednesday and the
mine drilling company said demand for its services from senior
and mid-tier miners remains strong.
Major Drilling added it is continuing to aggressively
recruit and train new drillers as it looks to meet solid demand
for specialized drilling services, especially from the gold
industry.
Despite the positive outlook, the Moncton, New
Brunswick-based company cut its capital spending budget for the
year by 30 percent to C$70 million, noting that junior mining
companies are becoming more cautious on spending.
“While we are optimistic that our senior customers will
continue with the majority of their projects, we anticipate that
overall drilling activities will decline somewhat over the next
six months, particularly with respect to our junior mining
clients,” Chief Executive Francis McGuire said in a statement.
McGuire added that the company retired 10 rigs in the
quarter while adding 24 new rigs and has another 15 rigs on
order to meet demand for specialized services.
More than three quarters of its revenue was from specialized
drilling as of the end of July, the company said, and nearly
half of its projects were drilling for gold.
Spot gold rose to a near six-month high just below $1,700 an
ounce earlier this week as concerns over the U.S. labor market
encouraged investors to buy more gold on the view that the door
was open for more stimulus measures.
Major Drilling earned C$31.9 million, or 40 Canadian cents a
share, in the period ended July 31. That compared with C$17.9
million, or 25 Canadian cents a share, in the year-earlier
period.
Earnings were slightly below analyst expectations of 42
Canadian cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue in the quarter rose 45 percent to C$237.6 million as
the company’s efforts to train more staff resulted in an
increase in shifts and productivity.
Major Drilling also boosted its semi-annual dividend to 10
Canadian cents per common share.
