Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
3/20/2015
While Waste Control Specialists experienced a better fourth quarter and 2014 than the same periods in 2013, the company still had a net loss for 2014, WCS parent company Valhi announced late last week. Both sales and disposal volume were up in the second half of 2014, due mainly to the availability of shipping containers in the second half of 2014, the company said. WCS reported an operating income of $4.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 and an operating loss of $2.2 million for the full year of 2014 compared to an operating loss of $6.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2013 and $22.6 million for the full year of 2013. “Disposal volumes for the second half of 2014 were favorably impacted by the industry-wide availability of disposal shipping containers including those placed into service by the Waste Management Segment in 2014,” Valhi said in a release. “While disposal volumes were higher in 2014 as compared to 2013, the average per-unit disposal price was lower in 2014 due to relative changes in the mix of waste disposed. Strong results in the third and fourth quarters of 2014 allowed for greater coverage of fixed costs as compared to prior periods.”
Valhi believes WCS will continue its positive results in 2015, but it maintained it was open to strategic alternatives should that change, as it has said in the past. “We believe WCS can become a viable, profitable operation; however, we do not know if we will be successful in improving WCS’ cash flows,” the company said. “We have in the past, and we may in the future, consider strategic alternatives with respect to WCS. We could report a loss in any such strategic transaction.”
Texas Compact Rule Update Pushed To Next Month
The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission rule update vote has been pushed back until its April meeting, TLLRWDCC Chair Brandan Hurley said this week at the Waste Management Symposium in Phoenix. The Compact is currently undergoing a general rules update with a focus on better tightening its regulations on importation and exportation of waste. It had anticipated having a vote on proposed rules during the March meeting, Hurley said, but weather forced the Commission to push the vote back. “Due to some weather issues in and around Austin, we were unable to meet at our regularly scheduled March meeting,” Hurley said. “That was what the Rules Committee had rolled out and voted upon, but because of the weather, we could not to do. We had a subsequent meeting, but we did not feel it was appropriate to vote on the rules at a non-regularly called meeting. We are pushing adopting those rules to the April meeting.”
