ICHOR Coal N.V.
ICHOR Coal N.V.: Annual Report 2013: new strategy focuses on mine development
ICHOR Coal N.V. / Key word(s): Final Results IchorCoal Annual Report 2013: new strategy focuses on mine development – Development of existing resources and sale of HMS Bergbau AG influenced results – Total assets of EUR 175 million, revenues of EUR 25 million – “IchorCoal aims to become the leading South African mid-cap pure-play coal miner” Berlin, 9 April 2014: IchorCoal N.V. increased its asset base in 2013 to EUR 175 million from EUR 149 million in the year before. Its revenues from continuing operations added EUR 25 million and EBITDA was positive at EUR 1.2 million. “The last year was mainly influenced by significant ramp-up activities at the Vunene coal mine and the change in focus of IchorCoal into a pure-play coal miner,” says Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita, newly appointed CEO of IchorCoal. “Going forward we will focus on transforming IchorCoal into a leading South African mid-cap coal producer.” More details of the 2013 financial performance can be found in the Annual Report published today on IchorCoal’s homepage. An outward sign of the change in strategy was the sale of IchorCoal’s entire investment in HMS Bergbau AG, which specialises in coal trading and acted as the marketing arm of the company. The collaboration with the strategic partner in South Africa, the Mbuyelo Group, developed further. During the last financial year IchorCoal increased its shareholding in Mbuyelo Coal to 45 percent through a share capital increase and several share purchase transactions. With this increase the coal resources attributable to IchorCoal total more than 185 million tonnes from the Eloff mine alone, the most promising coal project of Mbuyelo Coal. To finance the acquisition of the Mbuyelo Coal stake and to advance the development of Vunene Mining, IchorCoal issued corporate bonds totalling EUR 40 million, from which EUR 35 million was placed on the market in two tranches. In addition, the issued share capital of IchorCoal was increased by 10 percent in August 2013 from EUR 5 million to EUR 5.5 million. “We take it as a sign of confidence in our company that we were able to successfully place both issues within a very short time,” explains Sebastian Giese, CFO of IchorCoal. IchorCoal’s profit and loss statement for the year was driven by the production ramp-up at Vunene Mining as well as the disposal of the investment in HMS Bergbau AG. In 2013 revenues from continuing operations reached EUR 24.9 million whereas the gross margin totalled EUR 7.0 million. Due to the delayed timing of the production ramp-up at Vunene Mining, the gross margin could not cover the total costs, which shows in the negative EBIT of EUR -3.9 million. The current year’s performance will be strongly influenced by the preparation for mining activities at Vunene’s Usutu underground mine and the further development of Mbuyelo Coal assets. “Further on we will continue to actively look for new coal assets in South Africa to expand our project portfolio. Of particular interest will be projects that are near or already in production and provide opportunities for both local market sales and exports”, explains Nyembezi-Heita. The Management Board About IchorCoal N.V. IchorCoal N.V. is an internationally operating mineral resource company specialising in investments in coal production. The company possesses its own coal resources and sells the produced coal on local and international markets. It currently holds substantial equity positions in several South African mining companies. IchorCoal is headed by its CEO Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita, COO Andries Engelbrecht and CFO Sebastian Giese. Forward-looking statements This news release includes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning estimates of expected mining and associated costs, statements relating to estimates of, and increases in, production, cash flows and values and other statements which are not historical facts. When used in this document, words such as “could,” “plan,” “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “may”, “potential”, “should” and similar expressions are forward-looking statements. Although IchorCoal believes that its expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties and no assurance can be given that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements include the possibility that the Company’s projects will experience technological and mechanical problems, that geological conditions in the reservoir may not result in commercial levels, that changes in product prices can have a material impact and that IchorCoal fails to raise sufficient capital to adequately fund its activities. Contact: Thomas Luber End of Corporate News 09.04.2014 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP – a company of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. 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