Streaming company SilverWheaton Corp. said May 9 that its first-quarter net income slumped 17%year over year to US$40.9 million, 10 U.S. cents per share while cash flow fromoperations rose 28% to US$114 million, or 28 cents per share. The group did notspecify a reason for the drop in earnings.
Meanwhile, revenues in the three-month period jumped 44% to US$187.5million on a 65% increase in silver equivalent sales to 12.8 million ounces, partiallyoffset by a 13% reduction in the average realized prices recorded at US$14.70 persilver equivalent ounce sold.
The British Columbia-based company's attributable silver equivalentproduction rose 24% year over year to 12.7 million ounces.
Silver Wheaton President and CEO Randy Smallwood said the companyachieved its second-best quarter ever of production and sales volumes due to strongperformances at Vale SA'sSalobo mine, aswell as Glencore Plc'sAntamina mine offsettinga shortfall from Primero Mining Corp.'sSan Dimas mine dueto planned implementation of safety procedures.
During the first quarter, payable silver equivalent ounces producedbut not yet delivered to Silver Wheaton by its partners decreased by 900,000 ouncesto about 6.1 million silver equivalent payable ounces at March 31, primarily relatedto decreases at Minto, San Dimas, Zinkgruvan,Yauliyacu and HudBay Minerals Inc.'sConstancia minesmore than offset production increases at Vale's Sudbury mine, Goldcorp Inc.'s Penasquito mine and the Salobo mine.
Average cash costs in the quarter were US$4.44 per silver equivalentounce, compared to US$4.46 per silver equivalent ounce during the comparable periodof 2015.
At March 31, Silver Wheaton had about US$88.0 million of cashon hand and US$800 million outstanding under the company's US$2 billion revolvingterm loan.
"Beyond our existing assets, Silver Wheaton continues tofocus on acquiring new accretive streams from high-quality, low-cost mines. Havingrecently completed an equity offering,we believe that we are well-positioned to benefit from an environment that is ripewith opportunities," Smallwood said.
Silver Wheaton declared a second quarterly dividend of 5 centsper share, unchanged from a year earlier.