Operator
Operator
Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the New Hope Group Full Year Results Presentation. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to Rob Bishop, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.
Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. (PLAY)
Q2 2026 Earnings Call· Mon, Sep 14, 2026
$6.83
-19.25%
AI summary not available yet
Be the first to generate an AI summary of this earnings call. Takes about 20 seconds, and the result is saved and available to everyone afterwards.
Same-Day
-19.01%
1 Week
—
1 Month
—
vs S&P
—
Operator
Operator
Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the New Hope Group Full Year Results Presentation. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to Rob Bishop, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.
Robert Bishop
Analyst · Jefferies
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for today's presentation. I'm Rob Bishop, Chief Executive Officer of New Hope Group. I'm joined by Rebecca Rinaldi, our CFO; and Dom O'Brien, our Executive General Manager and Company Secretary. This morning, we released our full year results for the 2026 financial year. Hopefully, you've had a chance to go through the presentation. But in any case, I'll step you through our key highlights before we open up the line for Q&A questions. 2026 marked another strong year for New Hope Group as we continue to increase volumes and deliver our organic growth profile. Firstly, I'd like to touch on safety. Throughout the year, our high potential event frequency rate reduced by 38% to 3.59, whilst our TRIFR increased to 3.89, 21% higher than this time last year. Safety of our people remains our highest priority, and we are focused on continuing improvements in all aspects of safety and well-being. Looking at our operational performance for the year, the group achieved run-of-mine coal production of 16.9 million tonnes, a 3% increase from the previous period. Saleable coal production of 11.5 million tonnes, 8% higher than the previous period and coal sales of 11.8 million tonnes, 4% higher than the previous period. Both saleable coal production and coal sales exceeded guidance ranges, underpinned by the continued ramp-up of New Acland Mine and Bengalla Mine's return to its nameplate production capacity. In terms of our financial performance, we delivered revenue of $1.8 billion, and underlying EBITDA of $514 million and a statutory net profit after tax of $161 million. EBITDA and NPAT were impacted by a temporary increase in strip ratio at Bengalla Mine and lower realized pricing. Despite certain short-term challenges, our assets remain resilient and continue to generate solid margins, which allows us to maintain returns to shareholders. On that note, I'm pleased to announce the Board has declared a fully franked dividend of $0.30 per share. High potential event frequency rate became the group's primary safety measure during the financial year. We have seen an improvement in our frequency rate during the period, decreasing from 5.82 to 3.59. This reflects a deliberate shift in focus towards events and conditions that have the potential to result in fatal or permanently life-altering injuries. This approach aligns with broader direction of the mining industry, where there is an increasing emphasis on understanding and managing high potential events, principal and material hazards and the effectiveness of critical controls. While traditional injury metrics remain important, we believe this frequency rate provides a better indicator of our exposure to serious harm and helps ensure our attention remains focused on preventing the most significant safety risks. TRIFR continues to serve as an important supplementary measure of injury performance. During the period, increased prime waste volumes were delivered at Bengalla Mine, which supported the realignment of the pit sequence following significant weather events across the Hunter region late in 2025 financial year. The operation delivered a strong finish and showcased its ability to achieve its targeted ROM coal production rate. Bengalla Mine delivered saleable coal production of 8.2 million tonnes, which exceeded its guidance range. The operation achieved an FOB cash cost of $81.30 per sale tonne, which came in at the low end of its guidance range. At New Acland Mine, we continue to successfully ramp up towards 5 million tonnes per annum. For the 2026 financial year, New Acland Mine produced 3.3 million tonnes of saleable coal, an uplift of 17% compared to the previous year. The operation was able to take advantage of increased spot rail capacity during the year, achieving coal sales of 3.6 million tonnes, which exceeded its guidance range. The group achieved an average sale price, including hedging of $145 per tonne, approximately 10% lower than the previous period. Despite lower coal prices, the group's low-cost assets delivered a solid margin of $45 per tonne. The business generated an EBITDA of $514 million, which enabled reinvestment in our assets and allowed continued returns to shareholders. $161 million was invested back into the business largely by way of capital expenditure, supporting the group's organic growth. As well as investing in our assets, we returned $206 million to our shareholders by way of fully franked dividends. Our total shareholder return during the period was approximately 33%. Our approach to capital management is underpinned by a disciplined focus on delivering sustainable returns to shareholders. The group's strong cash position generation allows us to sustain our current baseline of production whilst also investing in our organic growth profile. The ramp-up of New Acland Mine is progressing well. Public road realignment to enable development of the Manning Vale West Pit third mining area is underway with $16 million incurred during the period. Our 2 forms of capital returns are fully franked dividends and on-market share buybacks. As previously mentioned, our Board has declared a fully franked final dividend of $0.30 per share. New Hope has a significant franking account balance, and we'll continue to utilize this value for our shareholders. The dividend reinvestment plan, which we announced in September last year, will be operational for the final dividend. Turning to outlook. We have a very strong outlook for the industry. Our strategy is underpinned by the belief that demand for thermal coal produced from Australian operations will continue to play a vital role in providing reliable and secure energy supply to the world. Whilst we expect coal share of global power generation to reduce over time, the sheer increase in global power demand will continue to support seaborne thermal coal exports into the future. In addition, the aging of existing thermal coal assets, combined with underinvestment in new projects suggest a potential supply shortfall and attractive pricing outlook for the industry. Regardless of pricing dynamics, our low-cost assets produce high-quality coal, providing resilience in the cyclical environment and ensuring continued margin generation. In a year where we saw uncontrollable increases in our cash costs, our assets were still able to generate an underlying margin of $45 per tonne or approximately 30%, which showcases our low-cost nature as well as the significant upside potential available to New Hope and ultimately, our shareholders in the current pricing environment. New Hope remains committed to our shareholders and delivering sustainable long-term returns. In the last 5 years, fully franked dividends have amounted to over $2 billion, which equates to approximately 48% of the company's market capitalization as at 31 July '26. In addition, New Hope's share price has outperformed the ASX All Ordinaries by nearly 10x since its initial public offering in 2003. At New Hope, we recognize the importance of our dedicated workforce and the communities in which we operate. During the year, Bengalla Mine invested $1.5 million into the community and spent $186 million with local suppliers. New Acland Mine invested $800,000 to the community and spent $70 million with local suppliers. The success of our operations is closely linked to the strength of communities that support us. Rehabilitation remains a key part of the commitment as a responsible operator. Across Bengalla Mine and New Acland Mine, 3,086 hectares of land has been disturbed through mining activities with approximately 35% of that area rehabilitated. Our growth pipeline targets a significant increase in coal production over the next 2 years, which represents low-risk, cost-effective growth. Looking ahead to the 2027 financial year, we are focused on remaining a resilient, low-cost coal producer while executing our organic growth plans, which will enable us to continue to deliver shareholder value. The group's strategy is to safely, responsibly and efficiently operate our low-cost, long-life assets with a focus on disciplined capital management, providing valuable returns to our shareholders. Our investment proposition is underpinned by these 6 key areas, which we have summarized throughout the presentation today. Thanks very much. I'll now hand over to the operator to start Q&A session.
Operator
Operator
[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Daniel Roden with Jefferies.
Daniel Roden
Analyst · Jefferies
Congrats on the results. I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about FY '27 guidance on Slide 13. I guess it's not formal guidance, obviously, but it implies that next year might come around the range of 12.7 million tonnes saleable if you don't include Malabar, of course. But if I'm looking at that and kind of looking at a forward guidance around cost, if I'm trying to think about what a normalized and consistent variable cost assumptions would be into FY '27. How should I think about that? I'm kind of -- I think, trying to get a bit of a view on how New Acland might change the cost base and what the stripping profile looks like at, I guess, the rest of the business, Yes. So I was wondering if you could help us think about that a little bit.
Robert Bishop
Analyst · Jefferies
That's all right, Daniel. I think probably the key area of change will be Acland. As you know, that's in ramp-up at the moment. We did about sort of 3.3 million tonnes, 3.4 million tonnes for this financial year just finished, and that will push into the 4 million tonnes production range for next year. So as a result, you'll see that fixed cost base at Acland spread over more tonnes, and you'll see that unit cost decrease. And that will continue as we push out to 5 million tonnes production within the next sort of 18 months or so. Bengalla will be more sort of steady state. There will be inflationary impacts. And it's probably fair to expect that we'll see some increase or heightened diesel costs coming through the books. But I think as I've said previously on calls and information to the market that typically diesel is correlated to coal price. So we see a much bigger benefit coming through our revenue line, which more than offsets the increase in diesel costs. And probably another point, both of our operations are very low strip ratio. And as a result, diesel as a percentage of our overall cost base is less than perhaps some of our competitors.
Daniel Roden
Analyst · Jefferies
Yes, perfect. And I touched on a few of the things I was going to follow up on. But maybe could you help remind us what the sensitivity to diesel is at Bengalla and acknowledging, I guess, the relationship between, I guess, energy pricing and thermal coal, of course. But you've obviously seen thermal coal react. But if I'm doing my calculations and backing out what, I guess, the natural gas price equivalent in thermal coal units is, there's still a fair bit of headroom there. Like -- from your perception, like what are you guys seeing? And what closes that gap on an equivalent term? Like do you still see marginal buyers out there in the market? Or is there a lot of resistance in making that coal to gas -- sorry, gas to coal switching -- sorry, if I did not...
Robert Bishop
Analyst · Jefferies
Yes, there's a lot in that, I guess, what we've seen since the heightened tensions in the Middle East, we have seen directly some Asian countries switching. Certainly, our belief is that Korea is doing just that. Korea essentially turned to Russian coal off the back of the Ukraine crisis and wasn't taking much, if any, Australian coal. That's now changed. And we've had some inbound requests for supply to Korea. So that for us is a sign of switching and our belief is Japan is as well. And that certainly is underpinning some of the index price and the Newcastle Index. There are other factors at play, which are impacting that with Indonesian quotas and certainly some stoppages in China. Now that's obviously impacting more the high ash coal price. But ultimately, the more high ash goes up, typically, you'll see an underpinning of the Newcastle Index or high CV index. So probably the other point also is that certainly in recent days, we've seen impacts to gas supply and heightened concern over that, which will be making countries think about the switching potential. And certainly, from a stability of shipping lanes, et cetera, coal from Australia is certainly a much safer bet than some of the other sources for gas. So there's a lot contributing to it. And I think also the likelihood of a hot, drier summer under the El Nino conditions, which are expected, I think, will also underpin coal prices. I think our view is that, with coal prices at the moment around $150, there's probably a good chance it will stay at that point to potentially work its way a little higher.
Daniel Roden
Analyst · Jefferies
Yes. Okay. And maybe just last one for me, and I'll hand it over and rejoin the queue. But just on your last point there, how's your expectation of maybe holding $150 or higher on a coal price perspective. Maybe just walk us through the rationale behind the final div for the year and noting the franking balance there, if you could remind us what the residual franking balance is? And I guess, if we are expecting to hold around today's levels, what I guess, the expectation would be for depletion of the franking account?
Robert Bishop
Analyst · Jefferies
Sure. So I guess from the franking account balance, it will -- post the dividend, it will sit around the mid-600s, so $650 million or thereabouts. And you'll be able to work that out looking at the accounts. But certainly, a solid dividend to shareholders, and as you pointed out, fully franked. And I guess that really goes to the cash generative nature of our business. We certainly saw probably prices at the lower end of the cycle, particularly for the first half of the year. We benefit from a rally, which has been sporadic depending on what announcements are coming out on what was happening in the Middle East. But after probably a fairly soft year from coal pricing, we still generate significant cash and have the ability to pay a very strong dividend. So I think if you convert that to an outlook of potentially high prices, I think it's pretty clear that shareholder returns -- strong shareholder returns will continue. So -- which is very exciting and you look at our -- the slide in our deck on our organic growth and the tonnage which is coming into the business for modest capital expenditure to achieve that and the low-cost tonnes, both mines sit low on the cost curve, quality coal, all that means is strong cash generation and particularly as capital expenditure internally for those growth projects is coming off. So I think we see a really strong cash generative future for the business.
Operator
Operator
Your next question comes from Paul Young with Goldman Sachs.
Paul Young
Analyst · Goldman Sachs
I'm guessing Rebecca and Dom are there as well. Rob, a little bit further -- another question, sorry, on diesel and just the outlook there. And to your point, yes, absolutely, coal prices getting pushed up, particularly due to what's happening Indonesia now with restricted exports and the dryness there and also the impact from diesel prices there. But just on -- specifically on your business, I just sort of look at that you've actually put in your release here that in annual report that Bengalla's diesel cost was $1.12 a liter last year and $0.90 a year prior. Can you just step through what diesel price you're paying now? And also how much diesel does actually Bengalla consume?
Rebecca Rinaldi
Analyst · Goldman Sachs
Yes, sure. I'll take that one, Paul. Thanks for the question. I guess our diesel contract does look at the market rates behind the diesel. It does fluctuate when the underlying diesel price does go up. Last month, as an example, we paid around $1.23 a liter. And as we've seen in the past couple of weeks, we expect that to increase with the diesel price. Bengalla uses about 80 million liters a year based on kind of current forecast run rates.
Paul Young
Analyst · Goldman Sachs
Okay. That's very helpful. Rob, the next question -- thanks, Rebecca. The next question is actually just on approvals in New South Wales and actually the outlook for Bengalla. I mean, one, you've done a great job of picking up the tenements around Bengalla and also through your investment in Malabar as well. We've got a few big decisions coming up in the next month with Mount Pleasant and also Hunter Valley Operations. We've got the Net Zero Commission in New South Wales having a view. We've got Penny Sharpe, Minister Sharpe, coming out with a view around no greenfields projects in New South Wales going forward, which is -- it's a really interesting sort of juncture at the moment in the industry, and you presented a really compelling chart on, I think, Slide 9 showing New South Wales coal production declining, and we've obviously got Mt Arthur coming off in 2030 as well. So the question is actually around the tenements around Bengalla. Is the view just in initial discussions with the government and your work, that this is greenfields or brownfields?
Robert Bishop
Analyst · Goldman Sachs
It will be brownfield extension. And so it's sort of -- it fits within the recent statement on coal from New South Wales. It's an existing precinct. It's adjacent to existing operations. It will utilize on the basis we pursue an extension. And as you pointed out, we have the 2 ELs out to the West. So the common sense approach, assuming exploration proves that there's economic coal there, we believe it will -- would be to continue the advancement of the pit out to the West. So that's certainly a focus. We're currently exploring that. But there's not a significant rush for that. Our current permit is out -- is proved out to 2039. We believe we'll have exhausted all the reserves within that permit around about 2037. So you quite rightly pointed out, there's a couple of imminent decisions which need to be made about neighboring mines, and we'll certainly be -- and have been watching that closely. Hopefully, common sense prevails there. They're solid operators that makes sense to continue. And certainly, I think the Minns government is -- hopefully, there's a lot of support to continue both of those operations. But we have a bit of time for an approval, and we've been engaging with government and had positive feedback. And certainly, the intention would be to pursue those as we sort of get to the back end of this decade.
Paul Young
Analyst · Goldman Sachs
Yes. Great news. And just lastly, accounting question actually probably for Rebecca, just around your equity share within Maxwell, which continues to come through at the moment through the revenue line, and it's been making losses obviously because longwall hasn't -- just started cutting coal and a large fixed cost base there. But when it turns profitable, do you still expect to take the EBIT from that operation through that line? Or we're going to see that come through -- NPAT, sorry, come through the EBIT line? How should we think about the accounting, Rebecca going forward?
Rebecca Rinaldi
Analyst · Goldman Sachs
Yes. So the accounting shouldn't change too much, Paul. It should still be considered a share of an associate, which will come through that line where the loss is coming through. And that's because we don't control that operation. So essentially, when that operation starts to pay profits, we'll recognize those profits and subsequently get dividends off the back of that.
Operator
Operator
Your next question comes from Jacob Li with Barrenjoey.
Jacob Li
Analyst · Barrenjoey
Congrats on the strong result and dividend. Just trying to understand the thinking behind the dividend payout, just -- and what we expect on a go-forward basis. You previously talked to sort of wanting to hold a bit more cash than historically. If I look at your pro forma cash balance netting the final dividend today, that's more than $500 million. I guess the question would be how much cash does New Hope ultimately want to hold on the balance sheet? And over what time horizon are you thinking about that target level and sort of distributing any excess cash?
Robert Bishop
Analyst · Barrenjoey
Good question. I guess our focus is still to execute existing capital within the group. So that's really -- and there is commentary in the pack around some capital that needs to be spent to build out the pit to the west at Acland. So that's completion of that road, some mobile equipment, which needs to be purchased ancillary equipment. So that's obviously a focus. That's the best use of capital within the business to generate that extra tonnage for Acland to get up to that $5 million product. From a minimum cash balance perspective, we've sort of spoken of around about $300 million as a sensible minimum cash for the business, and we constantly review that. But I guess it's been pleasing to be able to pay a very handsome fully franked dividend for this last year. And as I said before, it just really underpins the cash generative nature of the business. And obviously, when we get to the middle of FY '27, we'll assess our cash balance then and what makes sense to pay an interim dividend.
Jacob Li
Analyst · Barrenjoey
Yes. I guess just to push you a bit further on that. If I look at your pro forma cash balance since 2021, you've been holding around $400 million to $450 million. I'm talking about cash net dividend declared. Is $300 million still the cash balance you want to hold? Or you sort of want to hold a bit more given the uncertainty in the microenvironment and the coal pricing?
Robert Bishop
Analyst · Barrenjoey
I think it goes to the point of having capital to deploy within the industry -- in the business. So it's -- I think we've highlighted before that coal prices fluctuated a lot in the last 6 months. There's a potential that, that will continue. So we want to make sure that we've got the cash on the balance sheet to deploy for our organic growth. And then we'll assess where we're at come middle of the year.
Jacob Li
Analyst · Barrenjoey
All right. The second one would be on New Acland. Just looking at your chart on Slide 21. FY '28 appears to be, I think, 4.5, 4.6 instead of 5 million tonne per annum nameplate. Is there a level of conservatism in there, given the rail performance has been impacted by Cross River Rail outages, and QR industrial action, et cetera?
Robert Bishop
Analyst · Barrenjoey
Yes, that's certainly something which we've highlighted as a challenge. Certainly, Cross River Rail is very delayed and that will continue to hamper consistency of rail. This month, there's a material shutdown in September, for example, which is planned. We've catered for it. But I think from our perspective, we're confident that the mine will get up to that 5 million tonnes. There probably is a level of conservatism in our outlook. And I think we've probably consistently exceeded the expected ramp-up for Acland. But certainly, we acknowledge the risk of rail. We're engaging both with Aurizon, our bulk rail provider and QR to ensure that we get the right support to support that ramp-up.
Jacob Li
Analyst · Barrenjoey
If I can squeeze a bit more on New Acland. Good to see the increasing coal resources. How does that sort of shape your thinking around potentially Stage 4 mining, given I think you permitted to go to, I think, 2040 with Stage 3 mining?
Robert Bishop
Analyst · Barrenjoey
We have a lot of land, a lot of tenements surrounding our existing approval footprint. We've engaged with Queensland government on a potential extension, similar to the scenario which we spoke about in the earlier question around Bengalla. So we have a very good understanding of the reserves around our existing footprint. In many cases, it's probably lower strip ratio than what we're seeing with our existing approval into the 2:1 strip ratio. So very low strip ratio. So it should be very prospective, very early days from a current permit, Stage 3, which is the stage we're in at the moment, will continue to around about 2040. So we do have time, but we're certainly looking at that and engaging with the government on a potential extension.
Operator
Operator
[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from James Goodsall. It's noted that saleable production hit the upper boundary of your guidance, but FOB cash costs still climbed 7.9% to AUD 88.9 per tonne. How much of this cost expansion is temporary and due to the Bengalla pit resequencing versus structural inflationary pressure?
Robert Bishop
Analyst · Jefferies
So there are a couple of points there, and we've talked about the pit resequencing in Bengalla having an impact on unit costs, and that was particularly in the first half of the year. We did see a strong second half of the year for Bengalla, which is more indicative of that asset on a longer term. As Acland ramps up, that becomes a more material part of our group. And when you look at the tonnage coming out of Acland at the moment, it's still in ramp-up. So you will see a heightened, I guess, unit cost for Acland having an impact on the blended unit rate for the group. As Acland ramps up to the 5 million tonne production, you will see an easing of that tonne cost base to a lower level.
Operator
Operator
Your next question comes from Vanitha Nagaraja. Could you please provide some color on how the capped call options operate to mitigate the potential dilution arising from the convertible notes? Taking into account the $0.30 dividend, the effective exercise price of the convertible notes will now be closer to the market price.
Rebecca Rinaldi
Analyst · Goldman Sachs
Yes, sure. So I guess on the capped call, essentially, that instrument steps in at the strike price of the convertible bond. So the strike price at 31 July was $7.41 of that convertible bond, and that capped call will then push that strike price up to an average blended rate of $9.55. So if the share price is within that strike range and the bond could convert, essentially those counterparties would step in, in that regard. In terms of your second point, yes, both that strike price of the convertible bond and also the strike price of the capped call will adjust based on the dividend. Now that's based on the VWAP prior to record date. So we don't exactly know what that is at the moment. But the expectation is that on the convertible bond, the strike price of $7.41 will come down to around $7 or so.
Operator
Operator
There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand the conference back to Rob Bishop for any closing remarks.
Robert Bishop
Analyst · Jefferies
Thanks all for joining, and have a good day. Thank you.