South African coal producer Thungela Resources took a battering at the hands of headwinds from all directions in 2023, leaving profit at the group down almost 75 per cent. The firm, which is spun out of FTSE 100-listed miner Anglo American after a demerger in 2022, said that profit for the year fell from £761m to £204.9m while revenue came in 40 per cent lower than 2022, at £1.2bn. It said it managed to navigate significantly weaker benchmark coal prices, which declined much faster than market observers expected at the start of 2023. This was driven by a mild winter in the northern hemisphere, coupled with high coal and gas reserves - a result of stocking up following the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

(c) 2024 City A.M., source Newspaper