Coal producer Alliance reports 1st-quarter profit

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Coal producer Alliance Resource Partners is crediting higher prices for a 68 percent increase in first-quarter profits.

Alliance said Monday it earned $72.5 million, or $1.56 per limited partnership unit, in the quarter. Alliance earned $43.16 million, or 92 cents per unit, in first quarter 2008.

Revenue jumped 16.1 percent to $329.3 million, from $283.6 million a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson-Reuters expected, on average, earnings of $1.01 per share on revenue of $332.15 million.

Alliance lowered production and sales estimates for 2009 because demand is low. It is also adjusting the timing for a new mine on the West Virginia-Pennsylvania border.

In Illinois, Alliance operates a mining complex near the city of Carmi, in White County, Illinois. It also has operations in Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.