Argo Blockchain reports a net loss of £194.2m ($240.2m) in 2022

British mining company Argo Blockchain posted a net loss of £194.2m ($240.2m) in 2022.

New RNS: FY 2022 Results. Highlights include:

· Revenue of £47mm ($59mm)
· Mining margin of 54%
· Mined 2,156 BTC and BTC Equiv
· Completed strategic sale of Helios
· Reduced debt by £33mm ($41mm)

Learn more in the full RNS: https://t.co/zgQkyVILRE#ARB $ARBK #BTC

— Argo (@ArgoBlockchain) April 28, 2023

The negative financial result was mainly due to the revaluation of cryptocurrency reserves and asset sales.

The firm\’s revenue for the period amounted to £47.4m ($58.6m), down 36% from 2021. Argo attributed the decline primarily to a fall in the bitcoin price and rising global hashrate with mining difficulty.

In 2022, mining margin stood at 54% versus 84% a year earlier.

During the period the company mined 2,156 BTC, up 5% in production. As of 31 December, Argo\’s cryptocurrency reserves, in Bitcoin terms, reached 141 BTC.

Over the year the firm increased its hashrate from 1.6 EH/s to 2.5 EH/s. The company expects to receive under an agreement with ePIC Blockchain Technologies 2,870 BlockMiner ASIC miners on Intel\’s Blockscale chips. The devices are planned to be deployed in Q3.

In April, the American corporation announced the cessation of support for the mining-chip line. Argo, along with GRIID Infrastructure and HIVE Blockchain, was among the first buyers of Intel\’s product.

In October 2022, the company failed to close a £24m equity-raising deal. In December there were rumours about a possible bankruptcy of Argo.

On 28 December the firm announced strategic deals with Galaxy Digital. As a result of the agreements, Argo sold the flagship data centre in Texas to Mike Novogratz\’s holding for $65m. This allowed refinancing of loans secured by equipment. The fleet of 23,619 Antminer S19J Pro miners remained on site under hosting terms.

According to the statement, in the coming months the company will focus on developing its two owned mining facilities in Quebec. It is there that devices from ePIC with around 300 PH/s hashrate are expected.

For the first quarter of 2023, Argo mined 491 BTC, generating revenue of £9m ($11m) with a margin of 45-50%. The cost to mine 1 BTC was about £10,000 ($12,000).

Since the start of the year, the company\’s chief financial officer Alex Appleton has left (replaced by Jim McCallum) and chief executive Peter Wall. The board appointed Seif El-Bakli as interim CEO.

Argo avoided delisting from Nasdaq in January, where it has traded since 2021.

Earlier in the month, the company faced a shareholder class action lawsuit filed by its shareholders.