Metalclad Posts $4.6-Million Annual Loss

Hazardous-waste handler Metalclad Corp., embroiled in an expropriation claim against the government of Mexico, reported a $4.6-million loss for last year, and its auditors warned that the company might not survive.

The Newport Beach company lost about 16 cents a share on $11.9 million in revenue last year.

That compares with a $3.3 million loss on revenues of $6.2 million in the last seven months of 1996, when it changed its fiscal year to coincide with the calendar year. For its fiscal year that ended May 31, 1996, the company lost $6.8 million on $14.9 million in revenue.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP said that Metalclad has “a large accumulated deficit that raises substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”

Metalclad is seeking $90 million in damages in its claim against Mexico--the first filed by a U.S. business under the North American Free Trade Agreement. It alleges that the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi illegally seized a hazardous-waste site from it just as the facility was set to open in 1995.

Metalclad said in the SEC filing that it “reasonably believes” the arbitration case will be concluded this year. Meanwhile, it is pressing ahead with a new Mexican facility in the state of Aguascalientes.

In a release Thursday, the company said despite problems “1998 will be the year it experiences profitability.” Metalclad’s Nasdaq-traded stock closed at 97 cents a share Thursday, down 16 cents.