JSW : reports earnings of nearly one billion PLN

JSW Group reports earnings of nearly one billion PLN

23.04.2024

A drop in raw material prices, higher production costs and a windfall tax of PLN 1.6 billion (imposed on us as the only company in Poland) affected the Company's financial results. Despite this, the JSW Group closed the previous year with a net profit of almost PLN 1 billion.

photos: Dawid Lach

The JSW Group's 2023 EBITDA (excluding non-recurring items) was over PLN 4.5 billion. In turn, sales revenues surpassed PLN 15.3 billion, decreasing by 24.1% compared to 2022. This was mainly due to lower average coal sales prices, but also to lower coal sales volumes and lower revenues from the sale of coke and hydrocarbons.

- Despite many difficulties, we ended 2023 with a net profit of PLN 997.1 million, which signifies a decrease of over 87% compared to the previous year. However, we should remember that 2022 was absolutely exceptional for our company. JSW achieved record financial results by benefiting from an unpredictable combination of factors that periodically raised coking coal prices to unprecedented levels, which cannot be repeated in stabilizing market conditions - said Paweł Rostkowski, acting President of the JSW SA Management Board, adding: - The Company will strive to improve financial results and focus on adapting to the changing market environment, in order to ensure that the Group remains competitive in the long term.

In the period under review, the average price of coking coal and coke was PLN 1,124.52 per ton (25.6% lower than in 2022) and PLN 1,501.71 per ton (31.1% lower than in 2022), respectively.

In 2023, JSW Group's mines produced 13.5 million tons of coal, which was 4% less, and 3.3 million tons of coke, i.e. 4.3% more compared to the corresponding period in 2022. The decrease in coal production was caused, among other things, by delays in the opening of the Borynia Section longwall face and two longwalls at the Budryk Mine, as well as by a fire in the active longwall at the Pniówek Mine.

In 2023, capital expenditures in the JSW Group increased significantly. They amounted to PLN 4.2 billion on a cash basis, increasing by 48.3% compared to 2022. These were mainly expenditures for mine workings, coal preparation plants, transport equipment, modernization of powered supports, modernization of the coke oven battery no. 4, environmental protection, and many others. Expenditures for key development investments aimed at opening up new deposits and mining levels also increased, from PLN 346.6 million in 2022 to PLN 603.5 million in 2023.

In 2023, the Group spent PLN 1.6 billion on occupational health and safety. Such significant expenditures demonstrate the company's concern for safe working conditions for JSW Group employees.

It remains a priority for the JSW Group to minimize the impact of its operations on the natural environment. In 2023, the company continued to pursue its ambitious sustainability strategy, with the main goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Last year, the Group's expenditure on environmental protection amounted to over PLN 452 million and was mainly related to the implementation of the Methane Emissions Reduction program. In 2023, JSW became the first company in the mining sector in Central and Eastern Europe to secure a "green" loan in the form of a Sustainability-Linked Loan. The margin of this loan depends on the achievement of the Borrower's sustainable development goals. The funds obtained in this manner totaling PLN 1.65 billion will provide significant support to the achievement of the company's ambitious climate transition targets.

While growing in an adverse macroeconomic environment, the Company has not forgotten to live up to its mission of being a good neighbor. Last year, on account of various taxes and charges, it paid PLN 96 million to local budgets. The Company is also the largest employer in the region - at the end of 2023, the JSW Group employed more than 32 thousand people, while out of nearly 2700 suppliers of materials and services, 60% were local.

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The JSW Group is the largest producer of high quality coking coal and a significant producer of coke in the European Union. Coking coal, also known as metallurgical coal, has been identified as one of the 30 critical raw materials for the European Union, representing a high supply risk for European industry. This strengthens the strategic importance of the JSW Group to the European economy.

Coking coal is an essential ingredient in steel production - a key component in the development of an innovative economy and modern infrastructure. Currently there are no alternative and economically viable technologies for smelting steel without using coking coal.