Kevin (CFO) was very clear that he won't be directing any of the sell down funds to pay off debt. ie BOD wants to keep the debt, to provide some leverage. So perhaps they may be 'net' debt free (ex contingency obligations), but not debt free. That's an important optical distinction, which I think is a good decision, but the market may not.
We all know that currently dividends are only being paid from NSW EBITDA until the contingency payments have been completed. My interpretation of the call was that this policy may be relaxed once the sell down funds are received. ie from 1H25.
Kevin emphasised that returns to shareholders will be prioritised higher than in the recent past. However we already know: - $100m or so will go in CGT tax etc on the sell down - $350m (ish) is yet to be paid in stamp duty for the acquisition
And I would expect a liquidity buffer (perhaps $1bn, my guess)?, plus dividends over the next 12 months, and regular capex, redundancies, etc So I'm not expecting a resumption of normal div's (or buybacks) for at least 12 months. That's still an amazing outcome having just doubled the scale of the company.
Congratulations and thanks to management for making this happen.
WHC Price at posting:
$7.10 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
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(20min delay)