Wescoal is ready to ramp up its production while counting on business stability
The group performed weakly in the six months to September 2019 due to contract mining production challenges and an increasingly competitive domestic coal market.
Revenue was static at R2.1billion, but gross profit slumped to R195million from R276m in the first half of 2018. Operating costs leapt to R184m from R104m. The headline loss came to 11cents per share, versus earnings of 23.5c at the same time last year.
Cash generation more than halved to R126m from R291m. Gearing doubled to 36percent from 18percent.
Demana said major production improvement initiatives were under way at all operations to meet the group’s strategic objectives of stability, sustainability and scalability, supported by bolstered operational skills at all levels. These were already yielding positive results,” he said.
Source: iol.co.za
