Catalyst Paper, which owns the Crofton mill, recorded a net loss of $26.6 million for the second quarter of the fiscal year, which ended on June 30.
That’s compared to the company’s net earnings of $16.9 million in the previous quarter.
A statement from Catalyst attributed the loss in the second quarter to the fact that the company’s operating results were negatively impacted by the stronger Canadian dollar, lower production and sales volumes, the continued impact of the countervailing duty on exports to the United States of “super-calendered paper”, and higher maintenance and power costs for its Canadian operations.
Planned and unplanned maintenance outages at the Crofton mill were specifically mentioned as contributing to the increased maintenance costs and reduced production volumes.
“Although second quarter results were disappointing, operating results in the first half of 2016 were significantly better compared to the same period last year,” said Joe Nemeth, Catalyst’s president and CEO. “Our progress demonstrates that we are effectively driving down costs and growing the top line, which are key strategies that are foundational to our company’s transformation.”