Whitehaven shares rally as half-year earnings, dividend top estimates
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More news: Whitehaven Coal was one of the best performing companies across the ASX 200 after the miner's first-half result impressed investors.
Whitehaven shares were up 7.5% to $5.58 at 3:43pm AEDT, having retreated more than 20% over the last 12 months.
Whitehaven's first-half underlying EBITDA grew to $960 million from $632 million in the prior corresponding period, outstripping consensus estimates by 12%, according to Visible Alpha data.
The miner's interim dividend of 9 cents per share was also 18% ahead of market expectations.
Whitehaven Coal reports 70% slide in half-year profit
The news: Coal miner Whitehaven posted a 70% drop in first-half net profit to $77 million as the company warned of softer incremental demand in coal markets and near-term price volatility.
The numbers: Revenue more than doubled year on year from $1.59 billion to $3.43 billion, as run-of-mine (ROM) production climbed 88% to 19.4 million tonnes.
The company declared an interim dividend of 9 cents per share, up from 7 cents per share a year ago.
The context: Whitehaven said that ROM production and sales are "tracking firmly in upper half of guidance", while coal unit costs and capital expenditure are expected to fall at the lower end of their FY25 guidance ranges.
The miner noted that its thermal and metallurgical coal products are in "good demand", but noted that incremental demand in coal markets has been "relatively soft" in FY25, with the rebound in Indian demand for metallurgical coal "slower than expected".
What they said: "Solid production from NSW coal producers has resulted in short-term oversupply of high CV thermal coal in a fundamentally tight market," the company said.
"Near term price volatility also reflects activity by traders in a well-supplied market as well as current geopolitical uncertainties."
The sources: ASX announcement, Citi research
