Ann: Dividend/Distribution - NHC, page-47

AUST Business today (extract):
NEW HOPE CAUTIOUS AS CHINA LIFTS BAN

Nick Evans
New Hope isn’t rushing back into the Chinese coal market, despite it beginning to reopen to Australian exports, chief executive Rob Bishop says.
Speaking after New Hope delivered a record $1.09bn profit on Tuesday and declared 30c a share in dividends on the back of coal’s record run, Mr Bishop said the company had delivered its first coal into China in the fourth quarter of New Hope’s financial year, after Chinese authorities lifted bans on Australian thermal coal.
But he said the company was still wary about future trade into China, given the risk of a reversal in the thawing relationship between Beijing and Canberra.
“I think there is a reset. But we’re certainly not pushing long-term contracts with China. China is typically more of our spot sales,” he said.
Chinese sales made up only $79.6m of New Hope’s $2.75bn in revenue from coal sales, and Mr Bishop said New Hope would continue to prioritise its major customers in Japan and Taiwan, despite the fact that Chinese thermal coal buyers were back in the market in Australia.
“We’ve had a recent uptick in production so we’ve got more coal that isn’t covered by term contracts – so China is an attractive option, particularly for our lower calorific value (CV) coal. I think that does come with risk but ultimately, China is going to need coal,” he said.
New Hope sold $1.8bn worth of coal to its Japanese customers, and generated $589m in revenue in Taiwanese sales.
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