Miner New Hope eyes growth as it bids for Anglo American coal assets
Recasts with CEO comments on possible acquisition, adds quotes in paragraphs 5-7
By Melanie Burton
MELBOURNE, Sept 17 (Reuters) -Australian coal miner New Hope NHC.AX has built up a war chest to fund its growth plans which could include the coal assets of Anglo American AAL.L in Queensland if its bid is successful, CEO Rob Bishop said on Tuesday.
The Brisbane-headquartered miner has profited from a spike in prices for energy coal over the past few years, first from supply constraints during the COVID-19 pandemic andthen from the Ukraine war.
While thermal coal prices fallen frompeaks above $400 a metric ton two years ago to around $137 a ton on Tuesday, they are still double the levels seen in early 2020.
That has helped New Hope build up available cash of A$824.5 million ($556.46 million). The miner in July also completed an offering of$A300 million of senior unsecured convertible notes due in 2029.
"We want to make sure we have the firepower to execute if we see something attractive in the market," Bishop said in an interview after the company released results.
"We’re not desperate. It depends what type of assets come up," he said, adding that New Hope had submitted a bid for five metallurgical coal mines Anglo is selling.
First-round bids for the Anglo mineswere due by Sept. 9 as Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad takes initial steps to simplify the company after it rejected a $49 billion takeover offer from BHP BHP.AX earlier this year.
An acquisition would be a big move from the thermal coal miner into steel-making coal.
Separately, New Hope expects to spend around $A500 million on its internal growth projects, mostly on the restart of its NewAcland mine. It has also raised its stake in privately held coal miner Malabar Resources to 19.97% from 15%.
"It ticked the boxes for our strategy, it's cash generative, permitted, already selling coal, it will be very low on the cost curve," he said, adding that a minority stake would allow it an opportunity to "get smarter" in underground mining.
Earlier on Tuesday,New Hope reported an annual profit on Tuesday that fell 56.2% because oflower coal prices.
The miner reported a full-year net profit attributable of A$475.9 million ($321.33 million), compared with A$1.09 billion a year earlier.
New Hope's average realised prices during the reported period fell to A$183.25 per ton from A$346.73 per ton in 2023, while its saleable coal production for the year increased 26% to 9.1 million metric tons.
The company declared a final dividend of 22 Australian cents, compared with 21 cents a year earlier. Shares rallied as much as 5.4% and were last at A$4.35,up 2.4%.
($1 = 1.4817 Australian dollars)
Reporting by Sherin Sunny and Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Alan Barona and Christian Schmollinger
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
