Whitehaven Coal Ltd
(ASX:WHC) has warned that wet weather will impact its first half results.
Whitehaven says usually wet weather has negatively affected coal production at the company’s open cut mines in the Gunnedah Basin in New South Wales.
While saleable coal production for the first half will be around 10 per cent up on 2009, it is expected to fall short of budget by around 24 per cent.
As a result Whitehaven says it will need to purchase more than one million tonnes of coal to meet fixed sales commitments.
This is expected to have a significant negative impact on first half earnings because of the low availability and rising prices of coal.
Whitehaven says it cannot now accurately estimate half year earnings, due to uncertainty around shipping in December.
It will provide profit guidance in January, ahead of the half year reporting date.
Whitehaven Coal posted a net profit of $114.88 million in the year to 30 June 2010.
