Benguet Corp. restructures

Benguet Corp. said Wednesday that it plans to implement within the year a quasi-reorganization and equity restructuring.

The company will use the revaluation increments in its landholdings and capital surplus to wipe out its negative retained earnings. This will significantly improve its balance sheet by reversing the deficit and showing substantial positive retained earnings balance by the end of the year.

Philip Romualdez, Benguet’s president and CEO, remarked that once this major corporate objective is attained, a dividend declaration is projected in 2012.

Benguet made significant bottom-line performance in 2010 and is projecting to report another good year with the sustained prices of gold and nickel, additional debt resolutions, and transactions involving its nickel and copper-gold mines.