4 Apr 2013 18:28
Amsterdam, 4 April 2013
NWR agreed waivers and amendments to financial covenants in its bank facilities
New World Resources Plc ('NWR') and New World Resources N.V. ('NWR NV') jointly announce today that NWR's wholly-owned subsidiary NWR NV agreed with its lenders waivers and amendments in relation to the financial covenants in its bank facilities in order to avoid a possible breach thereof.
For the Export Credit Agency ('ECA') loan it has been agreed that the financial covenants under the original agreement are not tested for the period from 1 January 2013 until 30 September 2013. Further, for the period from 1 October 2013 until 31 December 2013, the maximum gearing ratio has been amended from 3.25x to 5x and the minimum fixed cover ratio has been amended from 3.50x to 2x. The outstanding amount on the ECA loan is EUR 78 million.
For the Revolving Credit Facility ('RCF'), it has been agreed that the financial covenants under the original agreement are not tested for the period from 1 January 2013 until 30 June 2013. For the period from 1 July 2013 until 30 September 2013, the maximum gearing ratio has been amended from 3.25x to 9x and the minimum fixed cover ratio of 3.50x has been amended to 1x. The EUR 100 million RCF is currently undrawn.
Further conditions that NWR NV needs to comply with during the covenant holiday period include: certain minimum cash balances; limitations on dividend payments; and limitations on incurring further senior debt.
The documentation of both facilities defines 'gearing ratio' as net debt divided by EBITDA and 'fixed cover ratio' as EBITDA divided by net interest, both calculated quarterly using consolidated financials of NWR NV on a twelve-month rolling basis.
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For further information contact
Investor Relations
Tel: +31 20 570 2244
Email: ir@nwrgroup.eu
Website: www.newworldresources.eu
About NWR
New World Resources Plc is one of Central Europe's leading hard coal and coke producers. NWR produces quality coking and thermal coal for the steel and energy sectors in Central Europe through its subsidiary OKD, the largest hard coal mining company in the Czech Republic. NWR's coke subsidiary OKK, is Europe's largest producer of foundry coke. NWR currently has several development projects in Poland and the Czech Republic, which form part of NWR's regional growth strategy.
In 2013 the Company announced a strategic outlook to reposition NWR into Europe's leading miner and marketer of coking coal by 2017.
New World Resources Plc is a FTSE 250 company, with listings in London, Prague and Warsaw. NWR NV has two publicly traded bonds listed at the Global Exchange Market of the Irish Stock Exchange.
Disclaimer and cautionary note on forward looking statements and notes on certain other matters
Certain statements in this announcement are not historical facts and are or are deemed to be "forward-looking". The Company's prospects, plans, financial position and business strategy, and statements pertaining to the capital resources, future expenditure for development projects and results of operations, may constitute forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology including, but not limited to; "may", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "plan", "foresee", "will", "could", "may", "might", "believe" or "continue" or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other facts that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future and may be beyond NWR's ability to control or predict. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performances.
Factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different from those projected include, but are not limited to, the following: risks relating to changes in political, economic and social conditions in the Czech Republic, Poland and the CEE region; future prices and demand for the Company's products, and demand for the Company's customers' products; coal mine reserves; remaining life of the Company's mines; coal production; trends in the coal industry and domestic and international coal market conditions; risks in coal mining operations; future expansion plans and capital expenditures; the Company's relationship with, and conditions affecting, the Company's customers; competition; railroad and other transportation performance and costs; availability of specialist and qualified workers; and weather conditions or catastrophic damage; risks relating to Czech or Polish law, regulations and taxation, including laws, regulations, decrees and decisions governing the coal mining industry, the environment and currency and exchange controls relating to Czech and Polish entities and their official interpretation by governmental and other regulatory bodies and by the courts; and risks relating to global economic conditions and the global economic environment. Additional risk factors are as described in the Company's annual report.
Forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this announcement. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release, publicly or otherwise, any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained in this announcement to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which any such statement is based unless so required by applicable law.