NEW HOPE PROFIT SLIDE

NEW HOPE PROFIT SLIDE

ASX-LISTED New Hope (NHC) today reported a 75 per cent drop in net profit after tax (NPAT).

The Brookwater thermal coal producer reported $101.1 million in NPAT during the first-half of FY12 compared to the previous corresponding period. It represents a significant decrease on the previous year’s $407.4 million result due to one-off proceeds from the $326.3 million sale of Arrow Energy to Shell Petro China.

However, revenue still increased 15.5 per cent to $388.5 million, production volumes rose 14.2 per cent to 3.2 million tonnes (mt) and export sales were up 7.4 per cent to 2.9 mt during the period.

“Interim earnings benefited from a strong operational performance across the portfolio, with an increase in production and exports coinciding with higher US dollar coal prices,” says managing director Robert Neale (pictured) in an ASX statement.

“With $1.4 billion of cash on the balance sheet, we remain well funded to deliver on the potential within our development pipeline that spans thermal and coking coal as well as alternative energies.”

NHC has acquired the remaining 19.2 per cent stake in Northern Energy for $50.2 million, with integration programs underway to improve the efficiency of project delivery.

The corporate strategic focus for the next five years includes developing a portfolio of coal projects and energy technologies while ensuring safety performance. However, second-half profitability is likely to be impacted by movements in the Australian and US dollar exchange rates as well as ongoing negotiations over benchmark thermal-coal contract prices in Japan.

NHC last year ended takeover talks with parties, describing the change-of-control offers as ‘preliminary’ and ‘incomplete’. The formal process to determine price and terms failed to demonstrate that pursuing such agreements would be in the best interest of shareholders.

The Board of directors has approved a fully franked dividend of 6 cents a share to be paid on May 2, 2012.

Read the full story on Wotif along with Brisbane’s Top 50 publicly listed companies in the annual Brisbane Business News top companies edition out now.

Comment on our Twitter page using the @BrisbaneBusines tag.

Get our daily business news

Sign up to our free email news updates.

 
Whitefox Recruitment founder Luke Hemmings making strides as a careers leader
Partner Content
After relocating his Canberra-founded company Whitefox Recruitment to the Gold Coast la...
Whitefox Recruitment
Advertisement

Related Stories

ASIC secures its first court win for greenwashing against US giant Vanguard

ASIC secures its first court win for greenwashing against US giant Vanguard

The Australian corporate watchdog has caught out one of the world&r...

Medicinal cannabis group Althea shaves $1.5m from its cost base through staff cutbacks

Medicinal cannabis group Althea shaves $1.5m from its cost base through staff cutbacks

Australian-founded medicinal cannabis company Althea Group (ASX: AG...

Charter Hall snares 15pc stake in Hotel Property Investments for $97m from 360 Capital

Charter Hall snares 15pc stake in Hotel Property Investments for $97m from 360 Capital

Listed funds manager 360 Capital Group (ASX: TGP) has offloaded its...

The party’s over: Splendour in the Grass festival cancelled for 2024

The party’s over: Splendour in the Grass festival cancelled for 2024

Splendour in the Grass, Australia’s largest winter music fest...