FILE PHOTO: The logo of Australia's biggest independent coal miner Whitehaven Coal Ltd is displayed on their office building located in the north-western New South Wales town of Gunnedah in Australia, August 15, 2017. Picture taken August 15, 2017. REUTERS/David Gray
Its shares closed up 2.7% to A$6.830 outperforming the broader market, down 0.1%.
After a disrupted first half, Whitehaven improved to beat expectations for the latest quarter, said Tom Sartor of broker Morgans.
“It was a combination of things from volume through sales through achieved costs, which is a function of volume. And also price realisations were a bit better than we thought,” Sartor said.
A stronger June quarter in comparison to the March quarter helped deliver Whitehaven’s overall FY23 guidance for both production and sales.
However, a longwall shift at the Narrabri mine was delayed by third-party lags in equipment overhaul including labour shortages, the miner said, with fourth-quarter production at the mine falling significantly by 63% year on year to 448,000 metric tons.
Whitehaven said it had completed its refinancing including sourcing credit to cover environmental bonds, rehabilitation and other financial guarantees but that a A$1 billion ($680.50 million) undrawn finance facility was not renewed.
It said it would retain cash on its balance sheet for operating the business, including for working capital purposes.
Coal miners have come under increasing pressure as lenders withdraw from the high-emitting sector due to carbon emissions concerns.
“Whitehaven is being forced to finance its operations with cash that could otherwise be handed back to shareholders,” said Will van de Pol, acting CEO of activist Market Forces.
Whitehaven did not have any additional comment.
Coal producers have been hit by a drop in thermal coal demand and a slump in prices this year due to high natural gas inventories in Europe.
Whitehaven clocked an average coal price of A$264 per metric ton during the June quarter, a 34% sequential drop on the March quarter, the company said.
Total managed run-of-mine coal production for the quarter ended June 30 was 5.1 million metric tons, down from 6.4 million metric tons a year earlier and just below a UBS estimate of 5.2 million metric tons.
