Whitehaven Coal has released its June 2023 quarter report, detailing operational and financial highlights from the quarter (Q4).
An average coal price of $264 per tonne was achieved for the quarter and $445 per tonne for the 2023 financial year (FY23), a notable decrease from Whitehaven’s March quarter which recorded an average coal price of $400 per tonne.
A managed run-of-mine (ROM) production of 5.1 megatons (Mt) was up by 19 per cent on the March quarter and FY23 managed ROM coal production of 18.2Mt was within guidance of 18.0–19.2Mt.
Other highlights from the report includes:
- Whitehaven’s FY23 total equity sales of produced coal of 13.0Mt was down eight per cent from FY22
- the company’s FY23 managed sales of produced coal of 16.0Mt was within guidance of 15.3–16.0Mt
- it bought back 38.92 million shares for $255.8 million, bringing the share buy-back investment in FY23 to a total of $948.9 million to acquire 119.67 million shares
- Whitehaven’s safety outcome for FY23 was a total recordable injury frequency rate (TRIFR) of 4.7 for employees and contractors, a 13 per cent improvement on the FY22 TRIFR of 5.4.
Whitehaven Coal managing director Paul Flynn said the company’s production and sales volumes was impacted by flooding and weather delays in the first half of the year, along with labour shortages and operational constraints at the Maules Creek coal mine in NSW.
“However, a stronger June quarter relative to the March period helped deliver our overall FY23 guidance for both production and sales,” Flynn said.
“Whitehaven generated $435 million of cash from operations in the quarter and at the end of June we held a net cash position of $2.65 billion.
“In FY23 we returned $1.6 billion of capital to shareholders through dividends and buy-backs. We are maintaining a resilient balance sheet, and with strong underlying demand for our high quality products, Whitehaven is well placed to continue to generate strong cash flows and deliver value for our shareholders.
“We look forward to providing further details on our financial results at our FY23 results on August 24.”