Arch Resources Inc ARCH

Achieves net income of $77.4 million and adjusted EBITDA of $130.4 million
Declares a quarterly cash dividend of $75.4 million, or $3.97 per share
Invests $73.5 million to repurchase 623,304 shares

ST. LOUIS, July 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Arch Resources, Inc. (NYSE: ARCH) today reported net income of $77.4 million, or $4.04 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2023, compared with net income of $407.6 million, or $19.30 per diluted share, in the prior-year period.  Arch had adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, depletion, amortization, accretion on asset retirement obligations, and non-operating expenses ("adjusted EBITDA")   of $130.4 million in the second quarter of 2023, which included a $2.9 million non-cash mark-to-market loss associated with its coal-hedging activities.  This compares to $460.0 million of adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter of 2022, which included a $1.9 million non-cash mark-to-market loss associated with its coal-hedging activities.  Revenues totaled $757.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2023, versus $1,133.4 million in the prior-year quarter.

In the second quarter of 2023, Arch made significant progress on numerous strategic priorities and objectives, as the company: 

• Executed at a high level in its core metallurgical segment, while achieving a higher-than-expected contribution from its legacy thermal segment
• Deployed $148.8 million via its capital return program, inclusive of the just-announced September dividend
• Reduced the diluted share count by a total of 623,304 shares, or 3.3 percent, and
• Strengthened the balance sheet via the reduction of an incremental $13.0 million in indebtedness, while ending Q2 with a net positive cash position of $97.4 million

"The Arch team delivered another first-quartile cost performance in our core metallurgical segment in Q2, driving still-attractive margins despite a significantly weaker pricing environment," said Paul A. Lang, Arch's chief executive officer and president.  "In total, we generated cash flow from operating activities of $196.8 million and discretionary cash flow of $150.7 million, underscoring yet again Arch's significant cash-generating capabilities in a wide range of market environments.  Perhaps most notably, we continued to reward shareholders via our robust capital return program, increasing the total amount deployed via the program to nearly $1.2 billion since its relaunch in February 2022."

Operational Update

"Arch's core metallurgical segment maintained its highly competitive cost performance in Q2, with strong overall execution in line with our first-quartile, full-year cost guidance," said John T. Drexler, Arch's chief operating officer.  "Of particular note, Leer South had its best productivity and cost performance since inception, and is well-positioned to maintain that momentum as we progress through the balance of the year."

Arch's core metallurgical segment contributed adjusted EBITDA of $132.8 million in Q2.  In sum, the metallurgical segment's average selling price for coking coal decreased approximately 27 percent on a sequential basis due to the significant pull-back in seaborne coking coal prices; the average cash cost per ton sold increased by approximately 9 percent; and the average cash margin per ton declined by approximately 56 percent.  During Q2, Arch shipped a significantly higher percentage of coking coal from its higher-cost and lower-realization metallurgical operations, particularly Mountain Laurel, affecting comparisons with Q1.  Arch expects coking coal sales volumes to increase between 5 and 10 percent in Q3 versus Q2, despite the softer demand environment. 

Arch's legacy thermal segment contributed adjusted EBITDA of $29.2 million in Q2, against capital spending of $10.0 million.  Thermal segment margins were compressed by previously discussed geologic challenges at the West Elk mine in Colorado that acted to constrain volumes and erode product quality, which was counterbalanced to some degree by improved margins from the Powder River Basin operations due to strong cost control.  Arch expects the challenges at West Elk to continue to hamper the thermal segment's sales volumes and to pressure unit costs in Q3, at which point the mine expects to transition to an area of more advantageous geology.  Arch expects to ship approximately 60 million tons from its Powder River Basin operations in 2023, while rolling the remaining 5 million tons of its committed and priced PRB volumes into 2024 in response to customer requests and in exchange for volume and/or price considerations on future shipments.  Since the fourth quarter of 2016, the legacy thermal segment has generated a total of $1,334.1 million in adjusted EBITDA while expending just $154.2 million in capital.

Financial and Liquidity Update

In keeping with its capital return formula, the Arch board has declared a total quarterly dividend of $75.4 million, or $3.97 per share, which is equivalent to 50 percent of Arch's second quarter discretionary cash flow.  In addition, the company deployed $73.5 million in Q2 to repurchase 623,304 shares at an average price of $117.91 per share. 

Arch has now deployed a total of $1,161.3 million under its capital return program since its relaunch – inclusive of the just-declared September dividend – including $643.7 million, or $34.64 per share, in dividends and $517.6 million in common stock and convertible notes repurchases. 

In total, Arch has now used common stock and convertible notes repurchases to reduce dilution by approximately 4.1 million shares.  Arch ended Q2 with 18.9 million diluted shares outstanding.  Additionally, Arch ended Q2 with approximately 419,000 warrants outstanding, or less than 22 percent of the original issuance.  Arch expects these remaining warrants to be exercised by year-end, which will further simplify the capital structure. 

Arch ended Q2 with indebtedness of just $137.7 million after paying down an incremental $13.0 million during the quarter.  In comparison, cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $235.1 million and liquidity stood at $361.2 million.

"We have made excellent progress in recent quarters towards simplifying the capital structure, reducing indebtedness, and defeasing long-term reclamation liabilities," said Matthew C. Giljum, Arch's chief financial officer.  "Through these efforts, we believe we have positioned the company to generate significant levels of discretionary cash in a wide range of market environments, thus laying the foundation for strong shareholder returns and the ongoing, systematic reduction in our overall share count in future periods."

Capital Return Program

Arch generated $196.8 million in cash provided by operating activities in the second quarter, which included a reduction in working capital of $62.5 million.  The company invested $46.1 million in capital expenditures, resulting in total discretionary cash flow for the quarter of $150.7 million.  The third quarter dividend payment of $3.97 per share – which includes a fixed component of $0.25 per share and a variable component of $3.72 per share – is payable on September 15, 2023 to stockholders of record on August 31, 2023. 

Since the second quarter of 2017 – and inclusive of the program's first phase – Arch has now deployed a total of nearly $2.0 billion under its capital return program.

"The board views the capital return program as the centerpiece of Arch's value proposition," Lang stated.  "While we believe the current capital allocation model has driven – and continues to drive – substantial value for shareholders, the board is committed to continuously evaluating the optimal means for deploying future discretionary cash flow, including the relative weighting of dividends versus share buybacks.  The board factors significant changes in circumstances – including movements in the company's share price – into its decision-making process." 

As of June 30, 2023, Arch had $248.9 million of remaining authorization under its existing $500 million share repurchase program.

ESG Update

During the second quarter, Arch maintained its exemplary environmental, social and governance performance.  Arch's subsidiary operations achieved an aggregate total lost-time incident rate of 0.47 per 200,000 employee-hours worked during the first half of 2023, which was almost five times better than the industry average, and recorded zero environmental violations and zero water quality exceedances over that timeframe as well. 

Arch also published its 2023 Sustainability Report during Q2, which details – among other things – the 47-percent reduction in CO2-equivalent emissions the company has achieved since its base year of 2011. In addition, the State of Wyoming recognized the Black Thunder mine with the 2023 Excellence in Mining Reclamation Award during the second quarter. 

Market Update

Coking coal prices retraced significantly during the quarter, likely due to continuing weakness in global steel production.  Hot metal production for the world excluding China was down an estimated 2.8 percent through June, against 2022's already depressed levels, according to the World Steel Association.  Even with this challenging backdrop, U.S. High-Vol A coking coal – Arch's principal product – continues to trade at levels supportive of healthy margins for the company's low-cost metallurgical segment.

The supply side remains constructive, in Arch's estimation.  Exports from Australia, the United States and Canada – the principal suppliers of high-quality coking coal to the global seaborne market – are down nearly 3 million tons in aggregate year-to-date against last year's already-constrained levels.  In addition, there is evidence that recent price levels are beginning to exert pressure on marginal cost producers, with two U.S. metallurgical complexes having shuttered in recent weeks. 

Looking Ahead

"The Arch team continues to drive forward with our simple, clear and actionable plan for long-term value creation," Lang said.  "In recent quarters, we have expanded and strengthened our world-class coking coal portfolio; increased the global reach of our high-quality coking coal products; reduced our indebtedness while building and maintaining a net positive cash position; greatly simplified our capital structure; and extended our industry-leading ESG practices.  Through these substantial and ongoing efforts, we believe we have laid a strong and durable foundation for long-term value creation, with the capability to generate significant levels of discretionary cash with which to continue our ongoing capital return program."

Note: The company is unable to present a quantitative reconciliation of its forward-looking non-GAAP Segment cash cost per ton sold financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures without unreasonable efforts due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying with reasonable accuracy significant items required for the reconciliation. The most directly comparable GAAP measure, GAAP cost of sales, is not accessible without unreasonable efforts on a forward-looking basis. The reconciling items include transportation costs, which are a component of GAAP cost of sales. Management is unable to predict without unreasonable efforts transportation costs due to uncertainty as to the end market and FOB point for uncommitted sales volumes and the final shipping point for export shipments. In addition, the impact of hedging activity related to commodity purchases that do not receive hedge accounting and idle and administrative costs that are not included in a reportable segment are additional reconciling items for Segment cash cost per ton sold. Management is unable to predict without unreasonable efforts the impact of hedging activity related to commodity purchases that do not receive hedge accounting due to fluctuations in commodity prices, which are difficult to forecast due to their inherent volatility. These amounts have historically varied and may continue to vary significantly from quarter to quarter and material changes to these items could have a significant effect on our future GAAP results. Idle and administrative costs that are not included in a reportable segment are expected to be between $15 million and $20 million in 2023.

Arch Resources is a premier producer of high-quality metallurgical products for the global steel industry.  The company operates large, modern and highly efficient mines that consistently set the industry standard for both mine safety and environmental stewardship.  Arch Resources from time to time utilizes its website – www.archrsc.com – as a channel of distribution for material company information.  To learn more about us and our premium metallurgical products, go to www.archrsc.com. 

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended - that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance, and future plans, and often contain words such as "should," "could," "appears," "estimates," "projects," "targets," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "may," "plans," "predicts," "believes," "seeks," "strives," "will" or variations of such words or similar words. Actual results or outcomes may vary significantly, and adversely, from those anticipated due to many factors, including: loss of availability, reliability and cost-effectiveness of transportation facilities and fluctuations in transportation costs; inflationary pressures and availability and price of mining and other industrial supplies; changes in coal prices, which may be caused by numerous factors beyond our control, including changes in the domestic and foreign supply of and demand for coal and the domestic and foreign demand for steel and electricity; volatile economic and market conditions; operating risks beyond our control, including risks related to mining conditions, mining, processing and plant equipment failures or maintenance problems, weather and natural disasters, the unavailability of raw materials, equipment or other critical supplies, mining accidents, and other inherent risks of coal mining that are beyond our control; the effects of foreign and domestic trade policies, actions or disputes on the level of trade among the countries and regions in which we operate, the competitiveness of our exports, or our ability to export; competition, both within our industry and with producers of competing energy sources, including the effects from any current or future legislation or regulations designed to support, promote or mandate renewable energy sources; alternative steel production technologies that may reduce demand for our coal; our ability to secure new coal supply arrangements or to renew existing coal supply arrangements; the loss of, or significant reduction in, purchases by our largest customers; disruptions in the supply of coal from third parties; risks related to our international growth; our relationships with, and other conditions affecting our customers and our ability to collect payments from our customers; the availability and cost of surety bonds; including potential collateral requirements; we may not have adequate insurance coverage for some business risks; additional demands for credit support by third parties and decisions by banks, surety bond providers, or other counterparties to reduce or eliminate their exposure to the coal industry; inaccuracies in our estimates of our coal reserves; defects in title or the loss of a leasehold interest; losses as a result of certain marketing and asset optimization strategies; cyber-attacks or other security breaches that disrupt our operations, or that result in the unauthorized release of proprietary, confidential or personally identifiable information; our ability to acquire or develop coal reserves in an economically feasible manner; our ability to pay dividends or repurchase shares of our common stock according to our announced intent or at all; the loss of key personnel or the failure to attract additional qualified personnel and the availability of skilled employees and other workforce factors; existing and future legislation and regulations affecting both our coal mining operations and our customers' coal usage, governmental policies and taxes, including those aimed at reducing emissions of elements such as mercury, sulfur dioxides, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter or greenhouse gases; increased pressure from political and regulatory authorities, along with environmental and climate change activist groups, and lending and investment policies adopted by financial institutions and insurance companies to address concerns about the environmental impacts of coal combustion; increased attention to environmental, social or governance matters ("ESG"); our ability to obtain and renew various permits necessary for our mining operations; risks related to regulatory agencies ordering certain of our mines to be temporarily or permanently closed under certain circumstances; risks related to extensive environmental regulations that impose significant costs on our mining operations and could result in litigation or material liabilities; the accuracy of our estimates of reclamation and other mine closure obligations; the existence of hazardous substances or other environmental contamination on property owned or used by us; and risks related to tax legislation.  All forward-looking statements in this press release, as well as all other written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained in this section and elsewhere in this press release. These factors are not necessarily all of the important factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to vary significantly, and adversely, from those anticipated at the time such statements were first made. These risks and uncertainties, as well as other risks of which we are not aware or which we currently do not believe to be material, may cause our actual future results and outcomes to be materially, and adversely, different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements. For these reasons, readers should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements.  These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which such statements were made, and we do not undertake, and expressly disclaim, any duty to update our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by the federal securities laws. For a description of some of the risks and uncertainties that may affect our future results, you should see the risk factors described from time to time in the reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

¹Adjusted EBITDA is defined and reconciled in the "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP measures" in this release. 

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SOURCE Arch Resources, Inc.