Coal miner Bogdanka, one of the main suppliers for Poland's power plants, cut its 2015 investment plan by around a fourth to 381 million zlotys ($101.1 million), expecting a further slide in coal prices, it said on Thursday. Weaker global demand has weighed on coal prices, which according to Bogdanka's calculations fell by over a fourth since the start of 2013 to 207.12 zlotys per tonne.
Bogdanka beat market forecasts, with its second-quarter net profit coming in almost 50 percent higher year-on-year. But this was mainly due to cost cuts, as Poland's only listed private miner fights both coal price malaise and tough competition.
Polish state-run Kompania Weglowa, the European Union's largest coal miner, had to launch deep state-directed restructuring to keep off the brink of bankruptcy. Bogdanka said it off-loaded coal at below-cost levels to salvage cashflow, putting more pressure on rivals.
"The consequence was another major cut in our planned 2015 investments," Bogdanka's chief executive Zbigniew Stopa said. "We cannot count on public aid, that our rivals use amply. We're competing with our efficiency."
"In accordance with our expectations for further pressure on global coal prices and oversupply on the Polish market, the company has set securing cash as its priority 2015 target," he added.
Bogdanka, whose clients include Polish state-run utilities Enea and Energa, as well as local unit of France's GDF Suez, sold 3.8 million tonnes of coal in the first half of the year - 12 percent less year-on-year.
Its revenue dropped accordingly, by 11 percent, to 843.6 million zlotys. The net profit fell 17.4 percent to 75.5 million in for the first six months of the year, despite the surprise rise to 43 million in the second quarter.
The miner wants to sell more next year than the 8.5-million tonne target for 2015.
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