daytrade diaries... november 18 part 2, page-49

GG
MELBOURNE (Dow Jones)--Macarthur Coal Ltd. (MCC.AU) said Wednesday its profit for the first half of fiscal 2010 is likely to be down sharply on year to between A$30 million and A$38 million.

This is well below the A$106.9 million posted in the first half of fiscal 2009 and Macarthur said this was due to significantly lower Japanese financial year sales prices and the impact of the stronger Australian dollar.

Macarthur Coal Chief Executive Nicole Hollows said that, while the company's mines are now back to full production, there remains uncertainty about the level of sales for the second half of fiscal 2010 due to infrastructure bottlenecks and the forthcoming wet season.

Infrastructure constraints and uncertainty about the next Japanese financial year sales price meant the company could not yet give guidance on full year profit, she said.

Hollows told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting that the miner's full year sales target remains unchanged at 4.6 million metric tons, with first half sales expected to be between 2.4 million and 2.7 million tons.


-By Alex Wilson, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9292-2094; [email protected]