South African coal miner Wescoal on Tuesday reported its performance for the first half of the 2019/20 financial year (April-September). While, in comparison the previous six months, revenues stayed static at R2.1-billion, gross profit fell to R195-million from R276-million, total comprehensive income dropped to R51-million from R108-million, cash generation declined to R126-million from R291-million, while operating costs rose to R184-million from R104-million. Headline earnings a share fell to minus 11.9c from plus 23.5c. The company’s gearing (debt) ratio increased from 18% to 36%. “We want to acknowledge this is a disappointing set of results,” Wescoal CEO Reg Demana tells Mining Weekly Online. “We’ve experienced a lot of challenges on the operational front.” Complicating matters were the costs of two merger and acquisition deals (reportedly costing R18-million) which did not come off.
