Mining and property corporation Bisichi Mining PLC (LON: BISI) has seen its shares rally during Wednesday morning trading, following news that it saw consistent growth across earnings indices during the first half.
Both the Company’s EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA rose between H1 2018 and H1 2019, by £0.5 million and £0.3 million to £5.7 million and £5.6 million respectively. Likewise, the Group’s profit before tax grew £0.3 million to £4.3 million on a year-on-year comparison for the first half, with basic EPS increasing 2.50p to 24.75p during the same period.
Bisichi Mining did note that total production dropped by 15,000 tonnes on-year, and that its acquisition of the Black Wattle coal prospect remained subject to regulatory approval. It added that its UK property portfolio and planning were ‘performing well’.
Bisichi Mining comments
In the Company’s statement, the Group shared the following insights,
“During the first half of 2019, Black Wattle Colliery, our South African mining operation, achieved total production of 655,000 metric tonnes, a similar level to the total production of 670,000 metric tonnes achieved in the first half of 2018. In addition, strong demand for our coal continued to impact positively on the prices achievable for our coal and overall Group revenue in the first half of the year.”
“In terms of markets, we have continued to see global economic factors impacting coal demand with, at the end of June 2019, the average weekly price of Free on Board (FOB) Coal from Richard Bay Coal Terminal (API4 price) touching levels below US$65 per metric tonne, compared to US$95 at the end of 2018. Although we expect demand for our coal to remain stable, the weakening of prices in the international market may impact overall Group revenue in the second half of the year. However, in anticipation of any future negativity in our markets, management continues to focus on enhancing production efficiencies and developing new product opportunities. To that end, we have recently installed additional equipment, including a high-pressure filter plant and coal fines section in our coal processing plant at Sisonke Coal Processing.”
Investor notes
The Company’s shares were up 5.00p or 4.55% to 115.00p 27/08/19 11:00 BST. The Group’s p/e ratio is 3.54, its dividend yield is 3.48% and its market cap is £12.28 million.
Elsewhere in the mining and minerals sector, recent updates have come from; Polymetal International Plc (LON: POLY) Cora Gold Ltd (LON: CORA), Glencore PLC (LON: GLEN), Jubilee Metals Group PLC (LON: JLP), Ariana Resources plc (LON: AUU) and Bushveld Minerals Limited (LON: BMN).
