Macarthur Coal Fiscal Year Net Profit Rises 93% To A$241.4 Million On Prices
August 23 2011 - 6:10PM
Dow Jones News
Australian coal miner Macarthur Coal Ltd. (MCC.AU) said
Wednesday full-year net profit rose 93% on the year to A$241.4
million, from A$125.1 million the previous year, thanks to a sharp
rise in the price of its products and a one-off gain from selling
part of its stake in a mine.
The company is the world's largest producer of pulverized coking
coal, or PCI, a low-cost variety used in steelmaking blast
furnaces. It is currently the subject of a joint cash bid by the
world's largest listed coal miner and steelmaker--respectively
Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) and ArcelorMittal (MT)--that values the
company at A$4.73 billion.
Heavy summer rains in Queensland's Bowen Basin this year caused
prices of coking coal to spike, with key benchmarks for the
highest-quality hard coking coal being set as high as $330 a metric
ton and PCI hitting a record $275 a ton in the June quarter.
PCI is typically sold for 75%-85% of the hard coking coal price.
The benefit from rising prices more than offset damage from the
stronger Australian dollar and the problems in Macarthur's own
mining operations, which were under force majeure conditions due to
the rainfall for five months of the year.
The results compared to guidance of A$240 million-A$260 million
given in a May update.
Underlying profit after tax edged up to A$142.4 million from
A$139.1 million. A Dow Jones Newswires poll of five analysts had
suggested an average figure of A$151.3 million.
The main one-off item was a A$41.9 million gain recorded from
the sale of Macarthur's 20% stake in the Middlemount coal mine to
Gloucester Coal Ltd. (GCL.AU). The sale price for the stake was
A$97.6 million.
Macarthur declared a dividend of 16 cents a share, compared to
17 cents for the same period last year. Under the terms of the
takeover offer from Peabody and Arcelor, dividends of up to 16
cents won't be deducted from their offer price for the miner.
Sales revenue in the period came to A$687.3 million, up 2.5%
from A$670.50 million the previous year.
-By David Fickling, Dow Jones Newswires; +61 2 8272 4689; david.fickling@dowjones.com
Macarthur Coal (ASX:MCC)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2024 to Jun 2024
Macarthur Coal (ASX:MCC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2023 to Jun 2024
Real-Time news about Macar Coal Fpo (Australian Stock Exchange): 0 recent articles
More Macarthur Coal News Articles