New Hope shares rise despite FY earnings slide
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More news: New Hope shares advanced in morning trade despite the coal miner reporting a profit and earnings slide for the 2024 financial year.
Shares were up 1.9% to $4.33 by 11am AEST, having lost 30% over the last 12 months.
New Hope halves FY profit after rail disruption
The news: New Hope Corporation saw annual profit more than halve in the 2024 financial year, as lower sales prices and delivery delays at its Bengalla mine weighed on the coal miner's earnings.
The numbers: New Hope reported net profit of $475.9 million, down 56.2% from $1.09 billion in FY23. Revenue fell 34.6% year on year from $2.75 billion to $1.8 billion, as EBITDA slid 50.8% from $1.75 billion to $859.9 million.
Saleable coal production increased 26.4% from 7.2 million tonnes in FY23 to 9.1 million tonnes in FY24.
The company declared a final dividend of 22 cents per share, bringing total dividends for the year to 38 cents per share. That compared to 70 cents per share in FY23.
The context: New Hope said that key metrics associated with its organic growth plans were achieved during the year, including its Bengalla mine meeting its targeted 13.3 million tonnes per year run-of-mill run rate, and headline washery input metric being achieved ahead of schedule. At the company's New Acland project, first coal was mined, railed and sold following the restart of operations.
However, the coal miner's main Bengalla Mine was impacted by logistics constraints during the June quarter. Significant increases in rail cancellations caused by protestor disruptions, track issues, labour availability and adverse weather meant deliveries by rail customers across the Hunter Valley region to the Port of Newcastle were impeded.
New Hope also noted that it increased its stake in Malabar Resources from 15% to 19.97% during the year, providing exposure to high-quality metallurgical coal and aligning with the company's strategy of investing in low-cost coal assets with long-life approvals.
New Hope, which is majority owned by Washington H. Soul Pattinson, said last month that despite stabilised pricing levels in the thermal coal market, "volatility still exists", with minor demand or supply shocks have the propensity to move pricing indices by up to 10%.
What they said: New Hope CEO Rob Bishop said: "This year, we've delivered on our organic growth pipeline, with the realisation of productivity benefits from the Bengalla Mine Growth Project and the restart of operations at New Acland Mine resulting in a significant increase in coal production".
"The combination of a robust thermal coal price environment, disciplined cost control and strong operational performance contributed to the third highest earnings result in the history of our company," he said.
The sources: ASX announcement, ASX announcement
