Last checked at 
LONDON (Alliance News) - Bisichi Mining PLC on Monday proposed a special dividend in addition to a final dividend after its revenue and profit grew in 2017 on higher coal prices.
The coal miner posted pretax profit of GBP1.5 million for 2017, up from GBP346,000 reported the prior year, as revenue grew to GBP37.5 million from GBP22.8 million.
The company said that the result was driven by an improved performance from its coal mining and washing operation Black Wattle Colliery in Mpumulanga, South Africa. This was after Bisichi Mining invested in infrastructure improvements to the mine’s washing plant, which increased its production in the second half of the year.
However, overall production for 2017 remained flat at 1.3 million metric tonnes.
Bisichi Mining said it benefited from the higher prices achievable for its coal in the international market. The company said that during the year average coal price grew to ZAR773 per tonne of export coal sold from ZAR632 in 2016.
For the domestic market, average coal price rose to ZAR397 per tonne of domestic coal from ZAR279 the prior year.
As a result, Bisichi Mining proposed a final dividend of 3.00 pence, bringing the total payout to 5.00p per share, up from 4.00p paid the year earlier. In addition, the company said that it will pay a special dividend of 1.00p "in light of the strong results".
Looking forward, the group said that both the export and domestic coal prices have continued to remain stable at these higher levels and it continues to see strong demand for coal in both markets.
"The permanent infrastructure improvements at Black Wattle will have a positive impact on the returns achievable from our existing coal reserves and should open up new opportunities to mine similar coal reserves in the surrounding area," said Chairman Michael Heller.
"Accordingly, we remain confident about the ability of our South African coal mining operations to continue to contribute to our group earnings and cash generation for the foreseeable future,” Heller added.
Shares in Bisichi Mining were trading 13% higher at 88.00 pence per share on Monday.
