Thomson Reuters






By Nicole Mordant


Feb 13 (Reuters) - Cliffs Natural Resources Inc,
which is facing against an activist investor who wants to break
up the mining company, reported much better-than-expected
earnings helped by a drop in costs and higher iron ore prices.


Shares in the iron ore and metallurgical coal producer
surged 7 percent in after-hours trading to $23.42 Thursday.


Cliffs has recently been targeted by hedge fund Casablanca
Capital, following several quarters of weak earnings and share
performance. Its stock is down 40 percent in the past year.


Casablanca argues that the company's international assets
are weighing on its cash-generating U.S. business and should be
spun off. The New York-based fund wants to install a new chief
executive at Cliffs as well as a majority of hand-picked
directors.


But on Thursday, the Cleveland-based company said its net
income rose to $31 million, or 20 cents a share, in the three
months to end-December. A year ago, it reported a loss of $1.6
billion, or $11.36 a share, when it wrote down $1 billion
related to its 2011 acquisition of Consolidated Thompson Iron
Mines Ltd.


Excluding various one-off items, Cliffs earnings were $218
million, or $1.22 per share, up from $89 million, or 63 cents a
share, in the same period a year ago.


That was well ahead of analysts' expectations of 77 cents a
share, on average, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.


Chief Executive Gary Halverson said the results were
achieved through a "company-wide focus to improve our cost
profile and financial position".


Halverson, who until now has been chief operating officer,
was appointed CEO of Cliffs on Thursday, a position that had
been vacant since last November.


A spokesman for Casablanca said, "Halverson has never run a
public company, and in our view does not have the relevant
experience to fundamentally reshape and refocus the company."


Weakness in the steel market has hit relatively high-cost
iron ore suppliers like Cliffs hard. In recent quarters, the
company's earnings have also been weighed down by
higher-than-expected costs at its Bloom Lake mine in Canada.


After months of uncertainty, Cliffs earlier this week it has
decided to indefinitely suspend a planned expansion at Bloom
Lake, and idle Wabush, another Canadian mine, slashing capital
spending and cutting some 500 jobs.


Looking ahead, Halverson said increasing shareholder value
must drive the company's capital allocation plans.


"The first step in this process is significantly cutting our
capital spending and idling and or exploring alternatives for
underperforming assets in our portfolio," he said.


Cliffs expects accelerating economic growth in the United
States and continued growth in China in 2014 to support steel
production and thus demand for the steelmaking raw materials
that the company supplies.


Cliffs' revenue was marginally lower at $1.52 billion for
the quarter from $1.54 billion a year earlier as lower prices
and sales for coal were partially offset by a 10 percent
increase in global seaborne iron ore pricing.


Cleveland-based Cliffs said its earnings included a
previously disclosed $183 million pretax charge related to the
closure of the Wabush mine.


The company also recorded a non-cash goodwill impairment
charge of $81 million related to suspension of its chromite
project in Northern Ontario.