Polaris announces 2009 year end results and conference call

VANCOUVER, March 29 /CNW/ - Polaris Minerals Corporation (TSX:PLS) today reported financial results for the year ended December 31, 2009. All financial results are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.

During 2009, the Company had sales of $18.8 million, a 36% decrease over sales of $29.6 million generated in the prior year. At December 31, 2009, the Company had working capital of $10.6 million, including cash of $5.6 million, and no long term debt. The Company's cash position was enhanced by $2.7 million during the year through the sale of the Company's asset backed commercial paper investment.

The net loss for the year was $17.9 million ($0.34 loss per share) compared with the net loss of $9.8 million ($0.26 loss per share) for the year ending December 31, 2008. The net loss was impacted by three exceptional items: an estimated impairment loss of $5.1 million associated with the intended sale of Pier B land in the Port of Long Beach, California including the land, financing, permitting and holding costs incurred to date; a provision of $1.8 million associated with shipping commitments which will now be reversed in 2010 and foreign exchange losses of $1.4 million arising from the stronger Canadian dollar. The Company realized an Adjusted EBITDA loss for the year of $4.3 million ($0.08 loss per share) compared with a gain of $1.2 million ($0.03 per share) in the prior year. Sales of sand and gravel totaled 1.42 million tons in 2009 compared with 2.32 million tons sold in 2008.

Subsequent to the year end the Company finalized the refinancing of construction loans for the berthing tug used at Orca Quarry and will receive cash of CDN$2.3 million at the scheduled closing in early April, 2010.

Herb Wilson, President and CEO, said: "Several factors came together in 2009 that gave rise to significant challenges for Polaris: the unprecedented severity of the economic recession, related credit restrictions, delays in realizing positive impacts from the American stimulus spending and California state budget deficits, all of which inhibited construction activity. During the year we focused on progressing our terminal development strategy in southern California and improving operating efficiencies at the Orca Quarry so that we will be well positioned to take advantage of the economic upturn which we expect to begin to positively impact construction material demand commencing later in 2010. We continue to believe that our business plan remains solid, albeit delayed at this time. We are also encouraged by the level of interest that has been expressed in the purchase of the Pier B land in Long Beach and the benefits which will result from the development of an alternative site within the Port of Long Beach."

Mr. Wilson added: "Subsequent to the year end we agreed with our exclusive shipper to merge our existing agreements into a single Contract of Affreightment with a term of 20 years effective January 1, 2010. The commercial shipping terms remain unchanged from previous agreements with annual tonnages phased to reflect the requirements of Polaris' development program for new port terminal capacity. Under the terms of the new Contract of Affreightment, the Company made a payment to its shipper of US$6.85 million, of which US$500,000 was payable immediately and the balance will be paid, with interest at 7.5% per annum, under the terms of a secured credit facility maturing in 2017. The agreement allows Polaris to repay amounts outstanding at any time without penalty."

This financial summary should be read in conjunction with the Company's December 31, 2009 Consolidated Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis, both of which are available on www.sedar.com.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call at 8:00 am PDT on Tuesday, March 30, 2010. Investors and other interested parties may access the teleconference live by calling 888-231-8191 in North America or 647-427-7450 internationally.

A live webcast of the conference call will be available through the following link and will be archived for 90 days following the call: http://www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/viewEvent.cgi?eventID=3001680.

The conference call will be recorded and available for replay at 11:00 am PDT and will be available until April 13, 2010. To access the replay, dial 1-800-642-1687. The access code to hear the recording is 63940797.

Polaris Minerals Corporation is exclusively focused on the development of quarries and the production of construction aggregates in British Columbia for marine transport to urban markets on the west coast of North America to meet growing local supply deficits. In 2007, Polaris began shipping sand and gravel from the Orca Quarry to San Francisco Bay, Vancouver, BC and Hawaii.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements and information appear in this document and include estimates, forecasts, information and statements as to management's expectations with respect to, among other things the future financial or operating performance of the Company, costs and timing of the development of the construction aggregate quarry, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital and operating expenditures, requirements for additional capital, government regulation of quarrying operations, environmental risks, reclamation expenses, and title disputes. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "will", "should", "plans", "expects", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "budget", and "scheduled" or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements and information are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements and information are not guarantees and there can be no assurance that such statements and information will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's Annual Report and under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form (AIF) in respect of its financial year-ended December 31, 2009, both of which are filed with Canadian regulators on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements and information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. All written and oral forward-looking statements and information attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements.

For further information: Herb Wilson, President and CEO, Lisa Dea, Vice President, Finance and CFO, Polaris Minerals Corporation, Tel: [phone], [email protected]