The explosions and fire a year ago at Imperial Sugar Co.’s Port Wentworth, Ga., sugar refinery has cost the company $14.9 million so far, but insurance paid all but about $3.3 million.
That information surfaced Thursday, when Sugar Land-based Imperial released first-quarter earnings.
The company reported a loss from continuing operations of $600,000, or 5 cents per share, for its fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008.
That compares with $12.3 million in income from continuing operations, or 1.04 per diluted share, for the same quarter a year ago, the company said.
Imperial took a $3.3 million pre-tax charge related to the February 2008 disaster at the Port Wentworth refinery. Fourteen workers died and about 40 were injured, and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed an order levying $8.76 million in fines against Imperial.
Imperial said Port Wentworth charges in the most recent quarter included money for cleanup and repairs, continuing refinery payroll and “other costs related to the accident totaling $14.9 million. Insurance coverage paid for $11.7 million of those costs.
“Understandably, financial results continue to be affected by the Port Wentworth outage,” Imperial President and CEO John Sheptor said in a release announcing the company earnings.
However, reconstruction of the plant “is making excellent progress as we have begun erecting steel and major equipment is on worder,” Sheptor said, adding that the company anticipates bulk sugar production will begin again this spring, with complete restoration of packaging by fall.
While the company took the $3.3 million charge for the refinery accident, it also took a one-time gain on unspecified litigation of $16.1 million during the quarter.
Imperial said it had an operating loss of $1.7 million for the first quarter, compared with operating income of $3.6 million for the same quarter a year ago.
The overall results were blamed on a loss of production due to the Port Wentworth accident as well as higher freight, manufacturing, energy and other costs.
