New Hope shares slide on lower quarterly sales and production
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The news: Coal miner New Hope was one of the worst performing companies on the ASX 200 in morning trade, after reporting a 12% drop in sales in the July quarter.
The numbers: Shares were down 5% to $4.32 at 11:30am AEST and was the second worst performing stock on the ASX 200.
New Hope reported coal sales of 2.4 million tonnes, down from 2.7 million tonnes in the previous quarter. Saleable coal production fell 9% quarter over quarter to 2.5 million tonnes.
The miner said its average realised sales price for the quarter was $131.3 per tonne, an 11% decline from the previous quarter.
Underlying earnings fell 39.9% to $93.4 million for the quarter, driven by lower sales volumes at its Bengalla mine in New South Wales.
On an annual basis, coal sales were up 21% to 10.5 million tonnes, meeting the lower end of its guidance range of $10.4 million to 11.5 million tonnes. Saleable production was up 18% year on year to 10.7 million tonnes, hitting guidance of 10.6 million to 11.6 million tonnes.
The context: New Hope said it achieved its full-year production and sales guidance, "despite significant weather and logistics impacts" at Bengalla.
The company said the result reflected an increasing contribution from its New Acland mine in Queensland.
New Hope downgraded its production guidance in May due to rail capacity constraints at New Acland.
The source: ASX
