Australia’s Whitehaven Coal WHC.AX reported a loss for the full year on Thursday, pressured by lower sales and A$650.0 million ($472.81 million) asset impairment expenses following a downtime at its Narrabri mine in New South Wales.
The coal miner said sales volumes were lower than forecast as production was hit by some unexpected geological challenges at its Narrabri mine requiring additional longwall equipment repairs.
Weak economic activity earlier in the year had weighed on coal prices, but Whitehaven said it expects a stronger performance in the coming quarters as demand improves due to easing COVID-19 curbs.
The company posted an annual net loss after tax of A$543.9 million ($395.63 million), compared with a profit of A$30 million a year earlier.
“We had our hands full putting the more difficult geological conditions at Narrabri behind us but the outlook is better than we have seen for some time, with the strong price environment putting us on an accelerated timeline”, Chief Executive Officer Paul Flynn said.
The asset impairments reflect expenses of A$548.7 million for Narrabri, A$90.2 million for Werris Creek because of revisions to its mine plan, and a A$11.1 million charge for rail intangible assets no longer expected to be utilised, it said.
The New South Wales-based company’s annual revenue fell 9.6% to A$1.56 billion.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Riya Sharma and Vasudha Kaukuntla; editing by Uttaresh.V & Shri Navaratnam)