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US coal miner Alpha's stock plunge breaches NYSE rules; 6 months to remedy

London (Platts)--20Apr2015/417 pm EDT/2017 GMT

US coal miner Alpha Natural Resources has been notified by the New York Stock Exchange its common stock has fallen below the bourse's listing price threshold and that it has six months to remedy this.

 

The NYSE requires the average closing price of a listed company's common stock to be at least $1/share over any period of 30 consecutive trading days. As of April 13, the company's average closing price over the preceding 30 trading-day period was $0.99/share, Alpha said in a statement late Friday.

 

The deficiency under the rule does not affect the company's business operations or its Securities and Exchange Commission reporting requirements, it added.

 

"The company plans to notify the NYSE of its intent to cure the deficiency and restore its compliance, and it will submit a plan outlining the actions it intends to take to do so," the Bristol, Virginia-based company said.

Alpha closed at $0.99/share on Friday. The stock was trading at $4.40/share a year ago.

 

Alpha's common stock will continue to be listed and traded on the NYSE during this period, subject to the company's compliance with other continued listing standards, it said.

 

Alpha supplies metallurgical and thermal coal to customers on five continents through mining operations in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Wyoming, according to the company.

 

Falling share prices for Alpha and its peers such as Arch Coal and Walter Energy have led analysts to speculate on possible mergers and acquisitions in the sector.

 

A merger between Alpha and Arch Coal could potentially keep both companies from bankruptcy while also benefiting the US coal industry, wrote BB&T Capital Markets analyst Mark Levin in an April 8 research note.

 

As drivers for such a deal he cited "the industry's glaring need to consolidate production and both companies' significantly over-leveraged balance sheets," along with a poor short-term market outlook.

 

--Hector Forster, hector.forster@platts.com

--Edited by Alisdair Bowles, alisdair.bowles@platts.com

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Yeah I do too.  When power plants in the area can purchase coal by the ton cheaper from Illinois vs buying from a mine within 30 miles away of where it's needed, the local boys are in BIG trouble!

 

I don't see how ANR survives this.  The smaller companies that can produce profit will survive but the big boys are in big trouble. This is probably the third "death" of coal since early 70's

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  • 2 weeks later...

Walter Energy Inc., an unprofitable U.S. coal miner, said there’s “substantial doubt†about its ability to continue as a going concern and raised the possibility of a bankruptcy filing amid low prices and a high level of debt.

That warning, made in Walter’s quarterly 10-Q filing on Tuesday, comes 10 days before a deadline for a $62.4 million interest payment due to bondholders. Unless the payment is made, or Walter restructures its debt with creditors, the company will be in default.

Walter had more than $3 billion of debt as of March 31, according to the filing. Should it seek bankruptcy protection, it would join U.S. producers Patriot Coal Corp. and James River Coal Co. which have filed since the start of 2012.

Walter has struggled after a slump in the price of metallurgical coal following a slowdown in demand in China, the world’s largest producer of steel. Walter scrapped its dividend in January, and last month it agreed to delay the interest payment on the bonds by taking a 30-day “grace period.â€

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  • 1 month later...

Thank you Mr. Obummer and your EPA for driving up the poverty level of this region by shutting down coal and thank you America for voting for them.  People that have very little knowledge of life and work in this part of the country were allowed the decision of whether the region survived or died.

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  • 4 weeks later...
 
 
 
 

There goes Water Energy......

http://powersource.post-gazette.com/powersource/companies/2015/07/15/Coal-miner-Walter-Energy-files-for-bankruptcy-Alabama-West-Virginia/stories/201507150218
 

Coal miner Walter Energy files for bankruptcy July 15, 2015 4:24 PM
By Anannya Pramanick and Amrutha Gayathri / Reuters
 

Walter Energy Inc filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, becoming the latest coal miner to do so as they struggle with a steep fall in prices since 2011.

The company said only its U.S. units have filed for a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and that operations in Canada and the UK are not included in the filings.

Pre-negotiated bankruptcies are designed to sail through legal proceedings faster than a typical bankruptcy.

Walter Energy, which has coal mines in Alabama and West Virginia, said terms of the restructuring assume senior lenders will convert all of their debt into equity.

The Birmingham, Alabama-based company also said it had enough cash to assure that vendors and suppliers would be paid during the reorganization process.

Walter Energy, whose shares have lost almost all their value in the last 12 months, warned in May it would have to seek bankruptcy protection if it failed to restructure its debt.

Walter Energy had total debt of $3.02 billion as of March 31, according to a regulatory filing.

The company's bankruptcy filing comes on the heels of Patriot Coal Corp's second Chapter 11 filing in May.

Patriot filed for bankruptcy protection just 18 months after emerging from its previous Chapter 11, and said it was in negotiations with a potential buyer.

Low demand for steel and a glut of metallurgical coal have depressed prices for the steel-making commodity, while thermal coal demand has weakened with power utilities switching to cheaper and cleaner natural gas.

Steel-making coal made up more than 90 percent of Walter Energy's coal sales in 2014. The company also produces coke and natural gas, besides thermal coal.

The company, which has been in the red for the last two years, in February forecast a 10 percent drop in steel-making coal sales in 2015, citing sluggish Chinese and European demand.

Walter Energy, which began as a construction company in 1946, dabbled in mortgage finance and various industrial manufacturing businesses before buying coal assets in 1970s.

At its peak, the company, then called Walter Industries Inc, had more than $2.4 billion in revenue and about 25,000 employees.

But the company closed or divested all of its non-coal businesses by 2009, when it re-branded itself as Walter Energy.

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  • 2 weeks later...
 

My knowledge of bankruptcy is lacking so anyone correct me if im wrong. My understanding is this will be a restructuring and streamlining of Alphas operations.Anyone care to speculate how this will play out over the next couple of months-years?

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I still think its hilarious how Cecil Roberts and the Unions are crying about losing their jobs and how unfair the federal government is being.  A ton of these union guys supported Obama in 2008 and Richard Trumpka was standing beside that POS on the campaign trail even after he told the S.F. Chronical that he was going to bankrupt the coal fired power plants.  Hell, the process was already rolling against them in 2012 and they still DID NOT support Mitt Romney who said he would come to their aid.  It just dumbfounds me they could be that stupid.

 

And the training programs the federal government talks about to re-train these out of work miners, what are they going to re-train them to do??  Answer phones at a call center that doesn't exist?

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Most of us here know that liberals aren't very smart and are basically what hurts this country a good bit. Here is an example of how ignorant they are. They follow their liberal talking points and somehow feel like Obamas & the EPA's energy plan is good because "coal is dead in WV & SWVA." Here are my questions that they can NOT answer:

 

Why kill coal jobs if there is still coal that is available to be mined?

 

Don't you think the price of Natural Gas will sky rocket once coal has been killed?

 

How safe is natural gas?

 

When will "alternative energy" jobs come to the mining communities? How long will people have to wait for those jobs? How long will they have to train for those jobs?

 

Why can't you let coal compete with the free market until other alternatives prove that they can compete with coal and put it out of business?

 

What about the small communities whose economy largely depends on coal jobs? Ex: Coal company employs > coal miner > who puts money in local bank, buys products at locally owned convenience stores/restuarants, movie theaters, etc.

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  • 3 weeks later...

And the training programs the federal government talks about to re-train these out of work miners, what are they going to re-train them to do??  Answer phones at a call center that doesn't exist?

A family member of mine was laid off from the roof bolt factory in Big Rock and is about to complete "retraining", auto mechanics at the vocational school. All and all pretty much useless. 

 

The retraining should have been focused on alternative energy jobs and those type of positions should have been promoted in SWVA and Central Appalachia. To just leave the region hanging is despicable 

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  • 2 months later...
 
 

I agree and that market keeps changing hands in the area also. EQT -> Range Resources -> now EnerVest just last week.  Apparently everyone was given a severence and most are being interviewed this week to see who they may rehire.  My understanding is less pay but possibly better benefits so that helps even out some.

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