In a press release posted on the London Stock Exchange website on Monday, Argo said, for its first full year of operations, it generated £8.5 million (just over $11 million) in revenue, compared with £760,000 ($985,720) in 2018.
Bitcoin mining firm Argo Blockchain says it took 10 times more revenue in 2019 than in the previous year.
The firm listed on the main Market of the London Stock Exchange in August 2018. The figures are unaudited, with the firm expecting to file audited earnings in April.
According to the announcement, in Q4 2019, Argo mined 432 BTC – compared with 426 BTC in Q3. The last quarter saw a drop in revenue to £2.66 million, from Q3’s £3.63 million, however.
«The lower quarterly revenue is attributable to a drop in cryptocurrency prices, increased mining difficulty, and unfavourable foreign exchange rates towards the end of the year,» the company said.
Peter Wall, Argo CEO, said:
«Our mining operations continued to generate industry-best mining margin in the last quarter despite a softening in market conditions from the previous quarter. Our state-of-the-art mining platform is performing as expected and with the expansion of our mining network on pace, along with the recent rise with the price of Bitcoin, Argo is well-placed for a strong year ahead.»
The firm has been ramping up its mining capacity ahead of the reward halving event due in May, and currently has 13,364 devices. That includes 6,375 Bitmain Antminer T17s installed since Jan. 1. Argo said it is «on track» to have another 3,625 T17s up and running by the end of this quarter.
By the firm’s estimates, the full expected capacity of 17,000 miners will see the power it contributes to the bitcoin network rise from 380 petahashes to over 650 petahashes.
A the time of writing, Argo’s stock price has risen following the announcement, and was up 3.55 percent at £7.30.
London Bitcoin Miner Argo Blockchain Reports 1,000% Revenue Increase to $10 Million
Based in London, Argo Blockchain operates at least 17,000 BTC mining machines at three sites in Quebec, Canada, leveraging the region’s cheap hydroelectricity. It listed on the LSE in August 2018, and until recently, mainly operated mining rigs for profit providing MaaS primarily to institutional investors.
London Stock Exchange-listed bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain Plc said on Wednesday full-year 2019 revenue rocketed 1,000% to £8.62 million ($10.78 million) from £760,000 a year earlier. The company stated that the increase was due to a realignment of operations, from consumer-oriented mining as a service (MaaS) business to a proprietary mining model.
For the year to December 31, 2019, Argo Blockchain reported it had mined 1,330 BTC thanks to a 306% increase in its cryptocurrency mining capacity. At year-end, the company operated 7,000 mining machines but that has since swelled to 17,000 during the first quarter of 2020.
The company, with a market value of £16.12 million ($20.15 million), said it narrowed operating loss by 80% to £830,000 ($1.04 million) during the review period.
Miners are facing pressure from the Bitcoin halving event scheduled for on or around May 12. The periodic event is set to cut mining rewards by 50%. This is expected to affect revenues for mining companies a great deal.
Some argue the revenue decline might be compensated by a spike in the price of BTC – a feat generally associated with previous “halving” events. However, Bitmain, a major mining rig manufacturer, planned to cut its workforce by half in anticipation of the halving.
Argo Blockchain expects continued “strong growth” in the first half of 2020, regardless of concerns around the coronavirus pandemic and the upcoming halving of BTC mining earnings. Chief executive officer Peter Wall said the company’s mining infrastructure will rise to 18,000 machines shortly.
“Having completed a major expansion of our mining infrastructure Argo is on track to deliver strong growth in the first half compared with the corresponding period last year”, Wall was quoted as saying.
“We entered 2020 with considerable business momentum and an efficient mining platform which puts us in a favourable competitive position to navigate the evolving and dynamic cryptocurrency ecosystem”, he added.
Shares of Argo Blockchain rose as much as 1.65% to £5.49 this morning during London trading sessions on Wednesday. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has reached a high of £11.25 and a low of £2.60.
