Macarthur Coal Fiscal Year Net Profit Rises 93% To A$241.4 Million On Prices

Australian coal miner Macarthur Coal Ltd. (MCC.AU) said Wednesday full-year net profit rose 93% on the year to A$241.4 million, from A$125.1 million the previous year, thanks to a sharp rise in the price of its products and a one-off gain from selling part of its stake in a mine.

The company is the world's largest producer of pulverized coking coal, or PCI, a low-cost variety used in steelmaking blast furnaces. It is currently the subject of a joint cash bid by the world's largest listed coal miner and steelmaker--respectively Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) and ArcelorMittal (MT)--that values the company at A$4.73 billion.

Heavy summer rains in Queensland's Bowen Basin this year caused prices of coking coal to spike, with key benchmarks for the highest-quality hard coking coal being set as high as $330 a metric ton and PCI hitting a record $275 a ton in the June quarter.

PCI is typically sold for 75%-85% of the hard coking coal price. The benefit from rising prices more than offset damage from the stronger Australian dollar and the problems in Macarthur's own mining operations, which were under force majeure conditions due to the rainfall for five months of the year.

The results compared to guidance of A$240 million-A$260 million given in a May update.

Underlying profit after tax edged up to A$142.4 million from A$139.1 million. A Dow Jones Newswires poll of five analysts had suggested an average figure of A$151.3 million.

The main one-off item was a A$41.9 million gain recorded from the sale of Macarthur's 20% stake in the Middlemount coal mine to Gloucester Coal Ltd. (GCL.AU). The sale price for the stake was A$97.6 million.

Macarthur declared a dividend of 16 cents a share, compared to 17 cents for the same period last year. Under the terms of the takeover offer from Peabody and Arcelor, dividends of up to 16 cents won't be deducted from their offer price for the miner.

Sales revenue in the period came to A$687.3 million, up 2.5% from A$670.50 million the previous year.

 
   -By David Fickling, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]