Pre-tax losses grow at UK Coal
UK Coal today warned it was expecting pre-tax losses for the first half of the year to rise to £94m despite benefiting from a rise in global coal prices.
The company confirmed it was in advanced negotiation to sell its Blair House surface mine site at Fife and said it was seeing “substantial interest” in its plans for joint venture development of its brownfield land and disposal of surplus agricultural land.
UK Coal’s first half operating loss is expected to be around £52m compared to £37.7m last year. It made pre-tax losses of £81.5m in the first half of 2009.
Production in the first half of the year suffered as work at a new face at its Daw Mill site was delayed and poor geology caused problems at Kellingley and Thoresby.
Deep mine production improved dramatically in the second quarter and has met expectations over the last six weeks. Over the full year the company is predicting production of 7.6m tonnes of coal, up 0.6 tonnes from last year.
The company was boosted earlier this month when plans to develop the former 230 hectare Orgreave site between Rotherham and Sheffield was given the go-ahead by the Government.
In its statement this morning, UK Coal said it had made “significant progress” in developing its land portfolio with applications for more than 1,500 new homes and for 894,000 sq ft of employment space submitted during the first half.
Planning gains and the strength of agricultural land values had helped offset the weaker employment land market but the value of its portfolio was expected to be around £384m at the end of June compared to £394 at the end of 2009.
