NEW HOPE CORPORATION (NHC) shot up 19c to $1.40 before closing...

NEW HOPE CORPORATION (NHC) shot up 19c to $1.40 before closing
at $1.35 yesterday after news of the sale of coal assets in Singapore
and that profit for the first 10 months was up 160 per cent, thanks to
higher coal prices.
That's a nice share price rise but it's relatively modest.
It's not even a record price - that was $1.77 back in January.
New Hope said it received $US406 million ($A520 million) as
final settlement from the sale of its international coal assets in
Singapore.
"As previously advised, the company will now complete a
strategic review of the proposed utilisation of the sale proceeds, with
an announcement to be made by the time the company releases its
full-year results in September 2005," New Hope said.
In the meantime we can speculate on what if the company returned
the money to shareholders.
It would be about 67c a share.
New Hope is also looking good on investment fundamentals.
A 160 per cent profit rise should give it EPS of about 26c and
put it on a future p/e of less than six times.
A similar rise in dividend rate would mean a payout of more than
10c, putting the stock on a yield of more than 7 per cent.


From the ferret