THE board of listed mining firm Benguet Corp. has approved a quasi-reorganization/equity restructuring plan to reverse negative retained earnings.

The company said in a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday that positive retained earnings would allow it to again pay dividends to shareholders. “The proposal calls for offsetting the deficit in retained earnings of P2.2 billion with revaluation increments in land of P1.7 billion and capital surplus of P1.2 billion without affecting the par value of its shares,” Benguet said in its disclosure.

“The quasi-reorganization/equity restructuring is among the last steps needed to be taken by the company to complete the corporate restructuring process,” it added.

The plan will be implemented by management as soon as approval of its application with the Securities and Exchange Commission is obtained.

Benguet A shares, which are open only to Filipinos, added 12.86 percent to P22.55 while the B shares, which carry no ownership restriction, did not move at P22.80 on Thursday’s trading.

The company earlier moved to accelerate the payment for the sale of its Kingking copper-gold prospect in Compostela Valley in Mindanao. The new deal involves a discount to the original $25-million payment originally set over seven years.  

Benguet said the proceeds would allow it to fast-track the expansion of the gold operations and allow it expand via acquisitions.

Benguet Corp. earlier reported that net income in the six months to June hit P580.11 million reversing an P88.3 million net loss in the same period last year. Earnings included a one-time gain of P549 million from the settlement of debts.