Czech coal mining company quadruples net profit

Prague - New World Resources NV (NWR), the owner of the Czech Republic's largest coal mining company, said Thursday its net profit was up more than four times year-on-year in the second quarter of 2008 on the back of skyrocketing coal prices. NWR more than quadrupled its second-quarter net profit from 16.2 million euros in 2007 to 71.3 million euros (105.3 million dollars) this year, according to unaudited consolidated results. The mining company's consolidated revenues reached 513.1 million euros (757.5 million dollars) between April and June, up by 56.3 per cent from 328.2 million euros in the same period the previous year. Growing demand for coal and increased industrial production in Central and Eastern Europe contributed to the strong results so far this year, the company said in a statement. 'We expect market conditions in the second half of 2008 to continue to be favourable,' NWR executive chairman Mike Salamon said in a statement. But production was down in the second quarter compared to the first three months of the year, the company said, stressing the need for a further upgrade of equipment. While the company was upbeat, the results failed to meet market expectations and the group's stock was down 4.71 per cent to 471.7 koruny (28.3 dollars) per share in early afternoon trading on the Prague Stock Exchange. The Dutch-registered company owns the largest Czech miner OKD, which operates mines in the country's north-east, and has plans to open mines in neighbouring Poland within several years. The group was granted a 50-year government license in June to extract coal from the Debiensko mine. NWR also formed a joint venture with Polish miner Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa SA to tap the Morcinek mine in Upper Silesia near the Czech-Polish border. NWR, one of the leading employers in the Czech Republic with more than 18,300 employees and 3,500 contractors, has customers across Central Europe, including Arcelor Mittal Steel, US Steel, Moravia Steel or CEZ. The firm, whose majority owner is RPG Industries which is co-owned by Czech financier Zdenek Bakala, listed its shares in Prague, Warsaw and London earlier this year.