One company with a very different tale to tell, even if it is still having troubling exporting its core commodity, is Coal and Allied, the partly-owned Rio Tinto subsidiary based in the NSW Hunter Valley.
It showed yesterday the huge benefit that the explosion in thermal and coking coal prices this year, can have on the profit and loss account of a coal mining and exporting group.
It’s spectacular, and the rest of the 2008 year will be even better as it gets the full benefit of the price rises of 100% or more.
Coal & Allied delivered a 178.1% surge in first half profit due to higher coal prices and production.
The company reported net profit of $195.1 million for the six months ended June, compared to $70 million in the same period of 2007, which were affected by bad weather and heavy rain which closed the port of Newcastle for several days and cut shipping and rail transport.
Coal & Allied shares were untraded after last trading at $110.
Output for the half year was 10.4% higher than the same period of 2007 at 12.7 million tonnes, while revenue climbed 42.7% higher to $937.3 million.
Coal & Allied operates three coal mines in the Hunter Valley of NSW.
The company’s current second half will see another significant gain on the same period of last year.
It is the second Rio subsidiary to report a good gain in earnings; last Friday uranium miner and exporter, ERA reported net profit rose to $38.95 million, from $5.67 million in the same period of last year, while earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) totalled $54.4 million, up from $12.4 million a year ago.
