SunCoke Energy Posts Q3 Profit Attributable To Company Of $13.7 Mln

(RTTNews) - SunCoke Energy Partners L.P. (SXCP) reported third quarter 2013 net income attributable to SXCP of $13.7 million, or $0.43 per unit. Prior year net income of $17.4 million is not comparable as prior year results are before the initial public offering of a 65 percent interest in SunCoke Energy Inc.'s (SXC) Haverhill and Middletown cokemaking facilities.

Third quarter 2013 results are inclusive of one-month of performance at SXCP's new Coal Logistics segment, which was formed upon the closing of the Lakeshore Coal Handling Corporation acquisition on August 30, 2013.

"Since our initial public offering in January of this year, we have increased our distributions per unit twice on the strength of our operating performance. In addition, we recently completed two coal logistics acquisitions that we expect will support future distribution growth. As a result, we intend to raise our fourth quarter 2013 distribution to $0.4750, nearly a 10 percent increase over third quarter and 15 percent increase over our minimum quarterly distribution," said Fritz Henderson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SXCP.

Revenues were $162.0 million in third quarter 2013, a decline of $33.2 million from same prior year period due to the pass-through of lower coal prices and slightly lower coke sales volumes. Coal Logistics business handled 136 thousand tons of coal, generating $1.1 million of revenues in third quarter 2013.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.47 per share and revenues of $166.19 million for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.