Argo Blockchain Reports $8.7m Net Loss in Q1 2023 amid Revenue Growth and Cost Reductions

Argo Blockchain (LSE: ARB; NASDAQ: ARBK), a major cryptocurrency mining company, recently shared its unaudited financial results for Q1 2023. Although the report showed notable improvements in revenue, cash reserves, and cost reductions, the company could not achieve a positive net result.

Argo Blockchain Boosts Revenues in Q1 2023

Argo Blockchain ended the first quarter with a substantial balance of $14.2 million in cash and 85 Bitcoin or Bitcoin Equivalents (BTC) in its reserves. The company reported a revenue increase of 15% from Q4 2022, totaling $11.4 million. Despite a net loss of $8.7 million, Argo Blockchain demonstrated resilience by achieving an adjusted EBITDA of $1.6 million.

Throughout the quarter, Argo Blockchain displayed consistent mining performance, mining an average of 5.3 BTC per day, totaling 491 BTC. Mining margins for the quarter improved significantly to 49%, which is up from 35% in Q4 2022.

"The Argo team is moving ahead with a focus on financial discipline, operational excellence, and growth and strategic partnerships," Seif El-Bakly, the Interim Chief Executive Officer of Argo, said. "To support these initiatives, we recently strengthened our finance team and appointed Jim MacCallum, CPA, CFA, as Chief Financial Officer."

MacCallum, a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst brings over 30 years of experience in finance and accounting roles.

Two months ago, the publicly-listed miner published its financials for 2022, ending the year with a revenue of £47.4 million ($58.6 million), which is a decrease of 36%. The company posted a net loss of £194.2 million ($240.2 million) for 2022, driven by the declining value of cryptocurrencies.

Argo Blockchain Cuts Costs

Additionally, Argo Blockchain achieved substantial cost reductions in Q1 2023. Operating costs and expenses dropped 70% compared to the average in the second half of 2022, and finance costs fell 63% in the same period.

When it comes to financial discipline, Argo Blockchain has adopted a more scrutinizing approach toward all operating expenses, implementing a stringent internal process targeted explicitly at minimizing non-mining costs. The result of this disciplined approach is a notable 70% reduction in expenses as compared to 2022. In addition to this, the company is actively considering different strategies to fortify its balance sheet.

During Q1, Argo successfully transitioned the Helios facility to Galaxy Digital, and the overall cost for power and hosting was lower than previously forecasted. The decision to sell the mining plant was revealed in December and saved the company from potential bankruptcy filling.

Looking ahead, Argo plans to install 'BlockMiner' machines at its Quebec facilities later this year. They are expected to increase the company's total hash rate to approximately 2.8 EH/s.

The previous year was particularly hard for the mining companies, as their revenues fell 37.5% to $9.55 billion. Overall, BTC miners made $6 billion less than in 2022.