Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) shares were justifiably sold down on Thursday after the company quietly released its 2023-24 results late in the evening, revealing the shocking news that it was dropping its final dividend.
Additionally, the Perth-based lithium, iron ore, and energy group reported an 80% fall in annual profit and announced it was hunkering down to try to slash a significant surge in debt in the year to June.
Shares fell by 12% in early trading and pulled back to a sub-10% slump by just after midday. However, they hit a 52-week low of $38.82 in early trading, which was the lowest the shares had been since late 2021.
Statutory profit was $114 million, down from last year’s $244 million, despite a 10% increase in revenue to $5.27 billion.
Analysts had forecast underlying NPAT as low as $130 million, but regardless, the slump in profit and surge in debt were enough to prompt the company to abandon any plans for a final payment to shareholders, who will have to make do with the 20 cents per share interim dividend.
The slide in earnings came despite higher lithium production and sales, with output at the Mt Marion and Wodgina mines increasing by 46% and 41%, respectively.
However, more pressures lie ahead. MinRes has completed the construction phase of its Onslow Iron project and now aims to ramp up production to 35 million tonnes per annum by June next year.
This will be a significant challenge in the current oversupplied iron ore market.
MinRes needs Onslow to succeed because it plans to use cash flow from the project to reduce its massive $4.43 billion net debt, which more than doubled from $1.90 billion in 2023.
The company expects $1.3 billion early next year from the sale of a 49% stake in its dedicated Onslow haul road, following a deal earlier this year with Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners. This should help reduce the debt burden.
Additionally, to keep cash outflow as tight as possible, MinRes has deferred all expansion projects in the lithium division and implemented cost cuts across the board.
Justifying this action, CEO Chris Ellison said in Wednesday night’s statement: “Given the stubborn lithium price and our remaining investment in Onslow Iron, we will continue to take a conservative approach during FY25, deferring expansion projects and focusing on cost reduction and cash preservation.
“This approach was reflected by the Board’s decision to not declare a final dividend for FY24,” he said.
“This was the biggest year of development in our history, culminating in the start-up of the transformational Onslow Iron project. We expect to de-leverage rapidly as Onslow Iron hits nameplate capacity and becomes cashflow positive over the next 12 months.”
In Thursday’s briefing, he lamented the current slump, warning that every job was at risk.
But that’s the reality of life in the commodities game—booms quickly become busts, which can then linger like a bad smell for much longer than anyone wants.