The slump in global coal prices has again caught up with Yancoal Australia (ASX:YAL), the big Chinese-controlled thermal and soft coking coal miner and exporter.
The company revealed on Monday night that first-half earnings tumbled 57% to an after-tax profit of $420 million for the first half, from $973 million a year ago.
That saw revenue slide 37% to A$3.14 billion for the six months to June as the average received price for the half also dropped 37%—negating a more than useful 18% rise in saleable coal for the period.
And that saw the company drop plans for an interim dividend. Yancoal paid an interim dividend for the first half of 2023 of 37 Australian cents a share and a final dividend for the same year of 32.5 Australian cents a share for a total of 69.5 Australian cents a share.
A final dividend and a full-year dividend are now in doubt.
Yancoal Australia could have paid a dividend, given it ended the half-year with $1.55 billion in cash in the bank.
For six months, the company reported total run-of-mine (ROM) coal production on a 100% basis of 27.9 million tonnes, up slightly from 26.0 million tonnes in the first half of 2023.
For the same period, total saleable coal production on a 100% basis was 21.6 million tonnes, up 16% from 18.6 million a year ago.
And total saleable coal production attributable to Yancoal was 17.0 million tonnes, up 18% from 14.4 million tonnes in the same period a year ago.
Even though production rose over the six months, the 18% gain couldn’t offset the impact of a 37% slump in the company’s received coal price at A$176 a tonne.