* NWR may restart dividends after H1
* CFO upbeat on outlook, coal prices
* Sees positive momentum for Debiensko mine opening
(Adds quotes, details, share reaction)
By Jan Korselt
PRAGUE, May 4 (Reuters) - Czech coal miner New World
Resources (NWR) <NWRSsp.PR> will likely resume dividend payments
after a year-long hiatus, if steel demand continues to boost
profit and broader market outlooks remain positive.
NWR, owner of the Czech Republic's largest hard coal mines,
has seen a recovery in demand from key customers in the steel
sector and ended a string of quarterly losses in the fourth
quarter of calendar 2009.
The company booked prices on the majority of this year's
delivery contracts much higher than most analysts had expected,
sending NWR shares to 19-month highs last month.
Chief Financial Officer Marek Jelinek said in an interview
he saw the trend of gradual demand growth continuing, and added
that double-digit growth in the central European car industry
this year would remove one of the remaining uncertainties about
the output of flat-steel goods.
"There are literally only two conditions: we have to post
good half-year results and we have to feel comfortable towards
the rest of the year," Jelinek said.
"Then I think that it is probable the dividend payment will
be renewed."
He said NWR would look at restoring policy of paying out 50
percent of profit. NWR stopped paying semi-annual dividends last
year to preserve liquidity during the financial crisis.
NWR shares firmed 1.1 percent after the interview to 265
crowns, paring losses. It closed at 264, 3.6 percent down.
POSITIVE OUTLOOK, BUT STILL RISKS
Jelinek said the strength of customers of the eastern Czech
mines, near the borders with Poland and Slovakia, was improving.
"If we exclude bleak scenarios, then it seems the financial
situation among our customers and their customers has been
improving for several months, so our outlook for the rest of the
year is positive," Jelinek said.
"Gradual growth in steel making is a long-term trend, that
has lasted over the past several months, and lately we have seen
this trend continuing."
NWR has booked prices for 80 percent of fiscal 2010 coking
coal with an 87 percent rise over 2009. Prices of quarterly
contracted coke jumped 31 percent from the first quarter.
Jelinek said there was still a "big upside" for coke prices
due to a drop in capacity in the region after several producers
had to close down last year, cutting capacity by about 20
percent according to analysts' estimates.
"I think that the effect has not been fully priced in,"
Jelinek said.
He said stockpiles of coke among producers from last year
were running thinner and it would be interesting to see what
happens on the market when they run out.
Jelinek said the firm's new pricing method, which shifted to
the April-March Japanese fiscal year, would enable it to look at
hedging coal prices through swaps and other products, but he
said this would take months, at least, to implement.
He said he believed market conditions have improved enough
to go ahead with the long-planned 350 million to 400 million
euro opening of the Polish hard-coal mine Debiensko, its first
outside the Czech borders.
On the downside, Jelinek pointed out risks stemming from
Greece, which could spread instability to "less robust"
economies of the European Union and hit recovery.
