Macarthur Coal Says Profits May Fall

Macarthur Income May Be 39 Per Cent Down

Australian coal miner Macarthur Coal Ltd has said that full-year profits may fall as much as 39 percent from a year ago after a fall in prices.

Net income may be A$103 million to A$113 million for the year ending 30 June from A$168.6 million in 2009, the company said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange.

Macarthur is currently the target of a A$4.1 billion ($3.8 billion) takeover offer from America’s Peabody Energy.

“Profitability in the June 2010 quarter has improved given recent coal price settlements with higher prices starting April 1”, the company said in the statement. Macarthur said it is still on course for full-year sales volumes of 4.8 million to 5.0 million tons.

Coking coal prices have risen sharply in recent months after the global steel industry came into recovery. A number of global coking coal suppliers including BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Teck Resources won a shift from annual to quarterly contracts and a rise of 55 per cent for supplies in the April to June quarter. Australia’s Centenntial Coal also warned of a tightening in the global supply of the product.

Peabody asked Macarthur, the world’s largest exporter of pulverized coal, for more information after completing a review of its finances yesterday. The American miner is also said to be concerned after the Australian government announced on Sunday that it plans to bring in a new 40 per cent tax on mining company’s profits. Macarthur said on Tuesday that the new tax had a brought an air of uncertainty to the industry.