Warrior Met Coal, Inc. (NYSE:HCC) (“Warrior” or the “Company”) today
announced that Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) has upgraded its
Corporate Family Rating (“CFR”) to B2 from B3 with a Stable Outlook.
Warrior is the leading dedicated U.S.-based producer and exporter of
high quality metallurgical (“met”) coal for the global steel industry.
According to Moody’s, the upgrade reflects the Company’s strong
financial performance including free cash flow generation, strong met
coal prices, low financial leverage and changes in the Company’s
shareholder base. The upgrade further reflects expectations that the
Company will continue to demonstrate strong free cash flow through 2019.
“We are pleased with Moody’s recognition of the Company’s strong
financial performance, conservative capital structure with low financial
leverage and changes in our shareholder base,” said Dale W. Boyles,
Chief Financial Officer of Warrior.
About Warrior
Warrior is a large scale, low-cost U.S. based producer and exporter of
premium HCC, operating highly efficient longwall operations in its
underground mines located in Alabama. The HCC that Warrior produces from
the Blue Creek coal seam contains very low sulfur and has strong coking
properties and is of a similar quality to coal referred to as the
premium HCC produced in Australia. The premium nature of Warrior’s HCC
makes it ideally suited as a base feed coal for steel makers and results
in price realizations near the Platts Index. Warrior sells all its met
coal production to steel producers in Europe, South America and Asia.
For more information about Warrior, please visit www.warriormetcoal.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains, and the Company’s officers and
representatives may from time to time make, forward-looking statements
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. All statements, other than statements of historical
facts, included in this press release that address activities, events or
developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will or
may occur in the future are forward-looking statements, including
statements regarding sales and free cash flow generation, leverage and
production growth, ability to maintain cost structure, demand and the
future direction of prices. The words “believe,” “expect,”
“anticipate,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate,” “project,” “target,”
“foresee,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “potential,” or other similar
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
However, the absence of these words does not mean that the statements
are not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements represent
management’s good faith expectations, projections, guidance or beliefs
concerning future events, and it is possible that the results described
in this press release will not be achieved. These forward-looking
statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many
of which are outside of the Company’s control, that could cause actual
results to differ materially from the results discussed in the
forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, fluctuations
or changes in the pricing or demand for the Company’s coal (or met coal
generally) by the global steel industry; the timing and number of
longwall moves; federal and state tax legislation; changes in
interpretation or assumptions and/or updated regulatory guidance
regarding the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017; legislation and regulations
relating to the Clean Air Act and other environmental initiatives;
regulatory requirements associated with federal, state and local
regulatory agencies, and such agencies’ authority to order temporary or
permanent closure of the Company’s mines; operational, logistical,
geological, permit, license, labor and weather-related factors,
including equipment, permitting, site access, operational risks and new
technologies related to mining; the Company’s obligations surrounding
reclamation and mine closure; inaccuracies in the Company’s estimates of
its met coal reserves; the Company's expectations regarding its future
tax rate as well as its ability to effectively utilize its NOLs; the
Company’s ability to develop or acquire met coal reserves in an
economically feasible manner; significant cost increases and
fluctuations, and delay in the delivery of raw materials, mining
equipment and purchased components; competition and foreign currency
fluctuations; fluctuations in the amount of cash the Company generates
from operations, including cash necessary to pay any special or
quarterly dividend; the timing and amount of any stock repurchases the
Company makes under its stock repurchase program; the Company’s ability
to comply with covenants in its credit facility or indenture relating to
its 8.00% Senior Notes due 2024; integration of businesses that the
Company may acquire in the future; adequate liquidity and the cost,
availability and access to capital and financial markets; failure to
obtain or renew surety bonds on acceptable terms, which could affect the
Company’s ability to secure reclamation and coal lease obligations;
costs associated with litigation, including claims not yet asserted; and
other factors described in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2017, Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30,
2018 and other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), which could cause the Company’s actual
results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking
statement. The Company’s filings with the SEC are available on its
website at www.warriormetcoal.com
and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.
Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it
is made, and, except as required by law, the Company does not undertake
any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. New
factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company
to predict all such factors.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180920005541/en/
Copyright Business Wire 2018
