Reuters: Hot Stocks: Walter Energy shares drop 10 pct after slashing dividend

Reuters: Hot Stocks Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Walter Energy shares drop 10 pct after slashing dividend Jul 24th 2013, 14:45 July 24 | Wed Jul 24, 2013 10:45am EDT July 24 (Reuters) - Shares of Walter Energy Inc fell over 10 percent on Wednesday after the coal miner slashed its dividend to 1 cent a share, from 12.5 cents a share, citing the tough market for metallurgical coal and an amended credit facility. Walter, which in June pulled a planned credit refinancing, said late on Tuesday that its $2.725 billion credit agreement from April 2011 had been amended for the fifth time, suspending some covenants and adding several others. The company said this should give it more financial flexibility. The amendment boosts interest rate margins by 1 percent, and makes it easier for Walter to issue more unsecured debt, among other things. Shares fell 10.5 percent to $12.62 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Walter has operations in North America and the United Kingdom, and much of its production is metallurgical coal, used to make steel. As the steel market grapples with excess capacity, global metallurgical coal prices have dropped, weighing on miners. Benchmark coking coal slid to $145 a tonne for the third quarter, its lowest since 2009, from $172 in the second quarter, according to Doyle Trading Consultants, which tracks the market. Separately, Walter said it expects that when it reports second quarter results, metallurgical coal sales will be about 2.4 million tonnes, and an inventory charge will boost costs slightly. (Reporting by Allison Martell; Editing by Janet Guttsman and Marguerita Choy) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions