Exxaro Resources Limited (EXX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Exxaro's Interim Results for the financial year 2026 and thank you for joining us here today here in person at the connection and to those that are joining us online, we welcome you. My name is Anda Mwanda and I look after Investor Relations at Exxaro. And today, I'll be facilitating this session. Before we begin, like we always do at Exxaro, safety is our #1 priority. And for today, please note that we have not planned any emergence drill. Therefore, if the alarm is activated, please remain calm and wait for the Exxaro from shells who are wearing red reflective vest here in the building, and they will lead you to the assembly point in front of the building. whether we have our parking area, where we'll all have a row call, which will be conducted by an flows. We'll all remain there until safety issues -- until the next -- we are informed to come into the building. If at any time during the presentation, you feel unwell, please inform your host, who has got you to the on-site clinic for medical assistance. In the event of this situation, please note that visitors should always be accompanied by their hosts. In terms of our ablution facilities, you get out of the build of the auditorium, you tend right, your first passage on your left, that's where you will see [indiscernible]. They are clearly marked. We kindly ask that for this session, all cell phones are put on site. And just to remember that from a safety perspective, we encourage you not to text while you are working in the building. Please take note of our safe harbor or our disclaimer. Today's presentation will cover Group highlights, followed by operational and financial performance, and we'll conclude with our outlook for the remainder of the financial year 2026. Unless otherwise stated, the results presented today relate to the 6 months ended 30 June 2026 and are compared with the corresponding 6 months period at 30 June 2025. Presenting our results today are Chief Executive Officer; Mr. Ben Magara and Finance Director, Riaan Koppeschaar. We have set aside time at the end of the presentations for questions and answers. And it gives me great pleasure this morning to hand over to Ben to take us through the group highlights. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Anda. Good morning, everybody, and thank you very much for joining us this morning. It is women's month. For those in purple and pink, we appreciate you for realizing that, but also in particular to the women among us and online and everywhere, we want you to know that the benefits we get, including the life we have come from your sacrifices, and we thank you. I would also like to extend a warm welcome this morning to all of you, as Anda just said, especially those online and most are here present with us today. A warm welcome to our Board members, [indiscernible], as we fondly call you, thank you very much for joining us. And some of them are also joining online we appreciate you. To our shareholders, and of course, my seller employees, we have the pensioners club here today. And we hope we are keeping your aiming safe, but I must personally welcome you because it is the journey that we have traveled and this year, Exxaro celebrates 20 years since our listing in 2006. I wish I could have 2 horns today to showcase the 2 guys who looked a lot younger when they did that then and they are present with us today, but we shall not talk about their salt and pepper. I'm not sure it's more just the salt because I don't think I see any pepper anymore. But when we met at our Capital Markets Day in June, we reflected on the progress that we have made in building a diversified portfolio for Exxaro. We are indeed accelerating the disciplined and prudent execution of our strategy by strengthening our core base growing our renewable energy business and for the first time, reflecting the contribution from manganese in our earnings and into the business and in these results today. The manganese results only reflect 4 months since we took over on the first of March. But today, we want to reflect on our operational performance for the first half of 2026. So from our operating activities, I'm really pleased that Exxaro has managed what's within its control and delivered strong production performance strong cost management and an exceptional safety pen that will reflect on. The headwinds of inflationary pressures, especially diesel, were contained well within inflation. Thanks to the great safety and production from our operating teams in all areas from coal to renewable energy and to monies. So let me start with safety. At Exxaro, we expect everyone to come to work and return home safely unharmed every day. This conviction is growing, is showing great signs, ladies and gentlemen. We are now 4 consecutive years without a fatality. And our lost time injury frequency rate improved by 60% 0.02. This is our best statistic on record for Exxaro. Thank you, and I can promise you that if you don't read our results, the proxy of safety, driving better production, better performance, better efficiencies and costs will be reflected in our results in terms of all our operating teams have performed. Any business is a hazard business. Any business has got risks, but we must remain focused on ensuring that our controls are in place and that we are able to proactively manage safety. This performance reflects the continued implementation of our One Voice strategy. Most importantly, the commitment of our people across the organization to work safely the conviction that 0 harm is achievable. So we are encouraged by this performance, and we remain vigilant, and we must continue on our goal to 0 harm because that is what's critical in the underlying performance of any business. Now turning to some other key messages. I think we have already -- as I've already highlighted, that we continue to make tangible progress in executing our strategy and building our diversified portfolio. Two highlights on our strategy execution in the first half is really our LSP project, the solar, the Lephalale Solar plant reaching commercial operation in April, and it is now generating green electrons for our crude lag mine. I'll touch on this a little bit later. But for the first time, our results, as I said, include the contributions from manganese. Ladies and gentlemen, safety mix business sense. And in that regard, our coal production is 11% up on last year to 21.5 million tonnes. Our coal export sales are up 15%, taking advantage of the higher prices we saw in the market, 3.9 million tonnes. Our renewable energy business is up 12% and thanks to the solar plant at Lephalale because we had much lower wind in the Eastern Cape. Pleasingly, production in manganese is also up 11% year-on-year. Importantly, we reiterate our guidance for the full year as we can see that we are on track to deliver on it. This operational performance has translated into a resilient financial result. And I know Koppes will be touching on this a little bit later. For those online, that's Riaan. Group revenue increased by 7%. This is in spite of exchange rate strengthening by about, I think, 11%. Our EBITDA essentially flat at ZAR 5.6 million and the exceptional operational performance in production and costs is possibly a bit more masked by the cost inflation issues but we are very pleased that we're able to extend those cost pressures and deliver essentially flat EBITDA numbers. We continue to generate strong cash flows, and our balance sheet remains strong with net cash at ZAR 6.4 billion, excluding the energy project finance debt. We exclude it because the in Synergy has no recourse to our balance. This provides us with the liquidity to fund our strategic priorities, while we sustain the consistent shareholder returns that we have been delivering since listing. So most importantly, we remain on track, as I said, to deliver on our guidance. Unfortunately, our headline earnings per share was negatively impacted by our equity accounted investments in SIOC, Sishen Iron Ore Company and Black Mountain. We are, however, pleased that in line with our new dividend policy, which is to return 40% to 67% of our group adjusted earnings and a pass-through of 100% from SIOC dividend, the Board has declared an interim dividend of ZAR 7 per share I'm surprised that we see clubbed fresh and not the pensioners. This is Exxaro's 47th consecutive dividend since listing. We have never missed a dividend. There are, however, still tough macroeconomic factors due to all the geopolitical uncertainty that I'm aware that we all are aware of. But let me unpack a little bit just to give you a context in the impact on exact but also maybe on the whole industry and business. So before I really unpack the issues of operational performance. The conflict in the Middle East contributed to renewed volatility across the global market. With oil prices increasing sharply, almost oil price has gone quite volatile translating all this into higher diesel prices for the country in general, but obviously, the mining industry, especially if you operate in open pit mines with much more impact from diesel and the broader inflationary pressures. So you will be able to see how Exxaro has managed to contain these costs only within all within inflation because thanks to the efforts of our operating teams today. However, some of these gains would be offset, as I've already said, with diesel costs and a stronger rand. Against this backdrop, we remain focused on the factors within our control, driving operational efficiencies, maintaining the cost discipline across all our 3 businesses. It is this focus on disciplined execution and operational excellence that underpinned our operational performance for the first half, which I will now go and take you through them. Turning to operational performance, beginning with coal. And very importantly, that our 3 pillars of coal, renewable energy and manganese also continue to portray exactly how the business is performing. But if I start off with coal, with total production up 11%, strengthened by higher output, particularly at [indiscernible] and the safe ramp-up at Matla. And Matla, if you look at it year-on-year improved by 38%. This is an underground mine with continuous minus extensive labor and workforce underground working safely and delivering a 38% improvement year-on-year, very pleasing. So the Matla ramp-up has been delivered on schedule and continues to perform exceptionally well. I saw a beautiful video from Maven of a conveyor belt running I waited for 2 minutes even to see if the call was coming, and I did see it. So I looked through the whole video. Very wonderful performance from [indiscernible] and Matla our Belfast and Mafube are mainly impacted, as you see a bit lower year-on-year, but this is all in line with their respective mining plants. So it's not odd to -- it's an expectation we have because of their own mining plans in that area as the mines get slightly deeper, the yields get slightly lower, which is really kind of symptomatic of the Pumalanga coal region. At Leeuwpan I'm really pleased that the turnaround plan is taking hold with steady production and growing contributions from exports. [indiscernible] is what I say to Renaud, and we will -- we are seeing really very good signs in the turnaround of Leeuwpan and thanks also to Transnet for delivering on their promises to make sure that we could possibly increase the exports from Leeuwpan. And you'll see the benefits when Riaan goes through his numbers. Total coal sales up 4% to 19.9 million tonnes, Caroline is 20. Supported by higher Eskom sales and strong export performance, Sales to Eskom increased by 6% to 14 million tonnes, mainly driven by the exceptional performance I spoke about on the ramp-up of the new mine on at Matla. Importantly, coal export sales increased by 15% to 3.9 million tonnes. We guided on 8% for the full year, and we are on track supported by improved rate performance and our effective use of alternative logistics channels to evacuate our coal from the mines to the port as prices do support the margins we can make out of that. If you look at this slide, we are particularly pleased to date with the Leeuwpan turnaround. You can see the movements. And you can see it's in the right direction, reflecting the progress that we are making in that. through our market to resource optimization initiatives, we were able to switch between domestic sales and export markets in order to maximize on profitability as we saw export prices might is. So you will see that domestic, even though down at 14% is because the much more profitable market of exports is actually up 15%. Metallurgical coal sales were a lot lower, and this really reflects the weak demand we are seeing in the domestic steel and ferrochrome industries. As we see Eskom coming to some agreements with some of the Fellochrom producers, we expect the domestic side to possibly -- or particularly the metallurgical side to possibly pick up as well as those furnaces pick up over time. Let me touch a bit around our production, particularly the challenges with the Waterberg, but really a strong export performance in a [indiscernible] commodity business, the key value lever after production is logistics, whether it's manganese, iron ore or coal, the next key value lever is our logistics. We continue to see encouraging improvements in rail performance at an industry level, coal volumes railed to Richards Bay improved placing this system on an annualized run rate of about 60 million tonnes. So we continuously see step change in the performance of Transnet. And as highlighted, this implant supported our own export performance, which went up 15%. And in [indiscernible], our tonnes railed directly to Richard's Bay remained basically steady as we focused on wanting to evacuate more coal from crude [indiscernible]. And together with Transnet, our teams worked flat out to deliver a bit more. And despite all activities, we achieved a 50% improvement in direct rails from [indiscernible] to Richards Bay. This ensures that we can reduce road transport, which is impacted by diesel and so what we see is that if you can rail direct from GG to [indiscernible] it's almost 2.5 to 3x benefit on profitability and margins. So that's why I'm really pleased to see the kind of 50% improvement. Obviously, from a low base, we also would remember that we had a 2-week wash away where the rail was washed away by rains last year. So including all that, we have seen a fantastic improvement of 20%. If you compare just last -- the last half of last year to this year, both halves had no wash away and we still have an improvement of 20%. The Richards Bay multi-model system, which will continue to utilize especially at current prices also improved by 20%, even though half-on-half from last year's second half, it dropped by 14% as we become conscious of the increasing diesel costs. In the mine, our teams have continued to demonstrate agility in getting our product to the market making use of all these alternatives and multi-model logistics systems. While these channels provide viable flexible options, we have enabled ourselves to increase our export volumes and they come at higher cost, if you are going to be running by road. We are pleased with the progress of making 50% improvement of direct railing from Waterberg. However, we are still seeing -- we still need a lot more improvement and further improvement on the Waterberg line remains an important export lever for Exxaro to unlock the additional export volumes that I know we have and have been promised from our operating teams, and this would continue to deliver improved cost efficiency of getting our coal to the seaborne market. During the first half, we saw softer demand from India, reflecting a little bit of higher domestic coal production in India, continued weakness of the steel sector in India, but also a much higher coal input costs. And when the go up, they tend to slow down in what they buy from outside. However, the strength of our diversified cost base and our market to resource optimization teams has enabled us to respond to these dynamics. So our sales increased in Japan, where our premium products low sulfur, high edgy remains a sought-after product. While on the Asian markets, particularly Taiwan, we also saw a contribution positively to our export permits. This reflects the strength of Exxaro as a core brand and has established a position where our customers see our products is premium in our key markets. So importantly, you will see that RB1 Richards Bay 1 represent 88% of our export sales mix during the half. Compared to last year, we actually did not sell any RB2, and you could say, so what happened? Actually, because we produced very high energy cost from GG, we can move volume from there, bring it to the lower RB2 in Witbank and blended to deliver RB1 to the market, which sells at a premium. We achieved an average realized price on export of $96 per tonne, reflecting a 91% price realization compared to the API for benchmark price. This price escalation reflects the mix of the fixed price, but also the index-linked contracts that our customers tend to prefer in times of lower prices, but in times of high prices, they tend to prefer fixed price. Our market resource teams allows us to respond with agility and I think we continue to do that. And our obesity, as I said earlier, remains our preferred and most cost-effective route to the market. A bit of coal well covered, let me move to our next business pillar, Synege, the Energy business. Synege also delivered a solid operational performance. The key milestone was the Lephalale solar plant that I spoke about earlier, reaching full commercial operation on the 21st of April, adding solar generation to our existing wound portfolio. The plant that Lephalale has reduced is -- contributes 30% of the mine's energy requirements. This is in a way, reduced our carbon emissions by 22% on that mine and given us electricity savings of ZAR 100 million a year. The total renewable energy generation has increased by 12% with the LSP contributing 66 gigawatt hours. Wind generation was lower due to weaker week conditions in the Eastern Cape, although plant availability was up and strong at 98%. But the benefit of now having wind and solar dovetails our performance such that you continue to see an improved performance in EBITDA numbers as well. The Career Bos construction project continues and is in progress with commercial operation expected in the first half of 2027, and that remains on schedule, on budget. Touching on Manganese, the new kid on the block and contributing both to improving safety, production and improved pricing that we saw in the Manganese. These slides highlights the performance of CP borrower mine in which we acquired 50% interest on the 27th of February 2026. For illustrative all the operational metrics that you see under manganese are presented on this slide on a 100% basis for the respective periods, so that is comparable. Even though in our books, manganese only represents 4 months of performance since we acquired it from the first of April. The improved LTIFR by 52% and reflecting the operations ongoing commitment and conviction to maintaining safe and disciplined working environment. Production volumes up 11%, and the increased production was deliberate response to the favorable conditions that we saw. Sales volumes, however, declined by 5%. Mainly, this was driven by the record sales we had in the first half of last year. as a result of the prevailing market conditions at that time. Despite this decline, sales volumes remained robust, and the prices for the high-grade semi carbonates, manganese that we produced increased by 18% to $4.64 per TMTU. On this note, we are very pleased with our long-life asset, cash-generative manganese business that is now in the house for Exxaro in particular, for the long life that we have, we believe that the long-term fundamentals of manganese remain robust, and we are very pleased that we have it now in the house and prospects around that continue. So let me hand over to Koppes so that you can take us through the financial highlights. Thank you.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and it's again a pleasure to present the interim results for the 6 months ending 30 June 2026. So on the first slide, I'm going to look at the operating performance of the group. Just to note to ensure comparability across the reporting periods, the figures presented in this section are based on the IFRS results adjusted for headline earnings items and the reconciliation is included in the supplementary slides. So starting with the group's overall performance, you can see the first 2 graphs on the top left illustrates the performance of our own managed operations. So revenue increased by 7% supported by the stronger coal prices we saw across both export and domestic markets. Although EBITDA remained broadly in line with the prior period, all in energy EBITDA increased by 5% and 2%, respectively, demonstrating the resilience of our operations despite the inflationary pressure. However, if you compare it to the second half last year, you can actually see that the EBITDA increased 22% from the previous half year. So turning to the chart on the top right. which reflects our equity accounted investments. Equity accounted investments declined significantly during this period, primarily attributable to ZAR 781 million reduction in the contribution from SIOC, where earnings were negatively impacted by lower realized selling prices mainly resulting from the stronger rand. Black Mountain also recorded a weaker contribution, reflecting higher mining cost and the slower-than-anticipated ramp-up of the Hamburg 2 project. This was offset by the first contribution from our investment in TP, which added ZAR 242 million for the 4-month period. So further detail on the equity investments is included in the supplementary slides. So despite operating in a dynamic and challenging market environment, the Group generated cash of ZAR 6.1 billion. And as a result, we closed the first half at a net debt position of ZAR 1.4 billion, including the Synergy project financing. I will provide additional detail of the cash position later on in the presentation. So overall, the performance of our managed operations together with the contribution from our investment portfolio resulted in headline earnings of ZAR 177 per share, representing a decline of 20% compared to the prior period. If we then look at the EBITDA waterfall graph, starting with the price impact, you can see export prices realized in the first half of this year increased by $8.70 per tonne or about 10%, broadly in line with the higher API 4 benchmark price. This benefit was partially offset by a decline in our price realization, which decreased from 96% to 91%. In addition, there was stronger pricing in the domestic market to support our revenue generation. If we look at volumes, export volumes benefited from the improved rate and the road logistics from the Waterberg. As Ben mentioned, the first half of last year, we also had the impact of the rail wash away. So these improved logistics enabled higher export volumes through RBCT and also increased our overall exports. In addition, upon sales were positively impacted by the establishment of the Navi trade alternative export channel. As a result, export volumes increased 15% and in the first half 2026. Looking at inflation. So inflation continues to have a big impact on our business. As you can see there, the diesel impact on our specific bonds, the cost increased by 25%. Electricity, the tariffs increased by 10.6%, and labor cost on average increased by 6.3%. Other operating costs generally tracked PPI increasing by approximately 4.5%. And beyond inflation, several other cost factors to consider. So selling and distribution expenses increased by ZAR 425 million, largely reflecting the higher export volumes as well as also the higher diesel cost when we had to move the product out. So inventory movements had a favorable EBITDA impact driven by our production volumes exceeding sales volumes. The liability adjustments were ZAR 341 million less favorable than the prior period. mainly due to scope changes, inflationary pressures, mainly at our mines in closure, Donaco and also at Leeuwpan. The stronger rand-dollar exchange rate that we mentioned earlier, there you can see the impact -- direct impact of ZAR 740 million on our Group EBITDA. This was partially offset by ZAR 188 million impact from realized and unrealized foreign exchange gains on our foreign denominated debtors and cash balances. And finally, general cost were year-on-year lower as the prior year also included consulting and legal expenses associated with our corporate transactions, including Ferro Alloys and other strategic initiatives. So this resulted in a favorable variance of ZAR 112 million. The manganese EBITDA contribution will be unpacked later on. When we look at costs, we continue to focus on disciplined cost management despite the inflationary pressures, the elevated diesel prices and the increase in logistics costs that we are seeing. So if you look at production volumes, excluding Mafube and Matla, it increased by 7% to 16.6 million tonnes while total cash costs increased by 4.6%, broadly in line with the PPI, reflecting the benefits of the higher production volumes and continued cost optimization. The initiatives that we are embarking on include benefits from the upon turnaround strategy and active optimization of our logistics channels and cost to ensure that the exports remain value accretive and then also cost excellence initiatives across all our mines. Looking at the specific cost component that I want to highlight out the field maintenance costs decreasing by ZAR 14 a tonne, in line with the normal life cycle plans and also the upon turnaround strategy, employee costs decreasing by ZAR 7, also reflecting the new Leeuwpan operating model and the implementation of that -- the operating model General costs, ZAR 6 a tonne, mainly due to decreased equipment leases at [indiscernible]. We are bringing in a new mining fleet that we will also address later on. And the electricity cost, ZAR 1 a tonne with the Lephalale solar project, partially mitigating the cost increase at [indiscernible] contractor cost increasing by ZAR 8 a tonne, primarily associated with Leeuwpan mine as Leeuwpan mine is in essence on the mining side, now a contractor operation. Our fuel cost increased by ZAR 9 a tonne, reflecting the higher diesel prices across the portfolio, and this remains the single largest inflationary cost pressure. So in 2025, just to point it out, diesel costs for the group fuel cost is about ZAR 2 billion. So any increase has got a major impact on our cost base. And as pointed out earlier, the rehab related adjustments at upon and [indiscernible] increased unit costs by ZAR 20 a tonne. Then a very important logistic cost, ZAR 23 a tonne, mainly due to the higher export volumes and also the impact of diesel cost on road transport. Remember, on road transport, result is probably our biggest driver in those contracts. So although the alternative export channels come at a higher cost, they remain value accretive with logistics excisions focused on moving products that maximize value and margin for the company. So costs remain under pressure from elevated diesel prices and alternative port routes, however, ensures that we actively manage these costs by prioritizing exports directly to Richards Bay. We do collaborative contracting market testing and also ongoing optimization initiatives. On the next slide, we'll look at the metals business. So as Ben pointed out, we acquired the manganese portfolio, the end of February. This includes our 100% investment in the manganese marketing company in Singapore. So basically, TP mines sales portion of the production to the marketing company that on sells it then to the end customer very similar to our coal marketing company in Switzerland. And then also in these numbers are a 51% investment in TP, which we pointed out is equity accounted. So the numbers included for a 4-month period from March to June. So the -- if you look at the EBITDA line, the marketing entity reported a positive EBITDA of ZAR 28 million for the period. And as I pointed out, driven by the sale and marketing of our share of the TP or production. This was offset by a day 1 fair value loss of ZAR 179 million recognized on the investment in Jupiter Mines reflecting the impact of the share price and the exchange rate on the effective date of the transaction when we acquired the asset. And then the balance of that is one-off transaction cost paid during the period. Look at the -- looking at the performance of the equity accounted investments, as pointed out, mainly impacted by SIOC due to a big impact of the exchange rate on the sales price that was realized and also higher production costs associated with the conflict in the Middle East. Equity income from Black Mountain negatively impacted by the delayed ramp-up of the [indiscernible] project. As pointed out, Exxaro's 50% interest in TP has been equity accounted for the 4-month period following completion of the transaction, and that is the ZAR 242 million that you can see. During the period, we received dividends from our investments, ZAR 1.4 billion from the equity accounted investments, mainly from SIOC as well as ZAR 100 million from the newly acquired investment in TP as well as a ZAR 26 million dividend from the investment in Jupiter, which is listed on the Australian exchange. Looking at capital allocation. So our capital allocation framework remains disciplined and consistent. And as pointed out, we continue to target the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio below 1.5x, excluding the Synergy project financing. So this approach preserves our balance sheet strength while maintaining flexibility required to execute on our strategic priorities. As previously highlighted, during the first half, we generated ZAR 6.9 billion in net cash inflow, comprising ZAR 5.4 billion from our owner managed operations, ZAR 1.5 billion received dividends from our investments, including ZAR 1.3 billion from SIOC, ZAR 100 million from TP and ZAR 75 million from our Fubo joint venture. In line with the capital allocation framework, we deployed the capital across the business to support the operational sustainability our growth initiatives and also shareholder returns. So ZAR 1.4 billion was invested in sustaining capital for the coal business, ensuring asset reliability continuity and safe production. ZAR 3.4 billion was returned to shareholders through dividends. This comprises ZAR 1.3 billion from the pass-through of the SIOC dividend and ZAR 2.1 billion distributed from our group earnings, excluding SIOC. We invested ZAR 10.6 billion in the Manganese acquisition further strengthening our portfolio and positioning the business for the long-term value creation. And we also settled ZAR 2.5 billion acquisition debt that we acquired. A further ZAR 864 million was invested in expansion capital, primarily relating to the completion of the remaining work at the Lephalale Solar project. and the continued construction of the [indiscernible] wind farm. The other cash allocations include ZAR 337 million for the acquisition of shares to settle vetted share-based payments and ZAR 100 million on deposit for our insurance program. So as a result of these cash flows and capital allocation decision, we closed with a net cash position of ZAR 6.4 billion. And if we exclude the energy excluding the energy business, net debt of ZAR 7.8 billion. Looking at capital expenditure, sustaining capital, mainly in the coal business. And this, as I pointed out earlier, is primarily driven by where we are in the process of rolling out the new truck and travel replacement program. The increase is intentional and value accretive, supporting the long-term sustainability of our sets and also ensuring asset reliability to underpin future earnings capacity. Turning to energy, the project cost at Lephalale Solar and the ZAR 60 million was invested during the first half to complete activities ahead of the commissioning of the plant in April. And during the same period, we spent ZAR 704 million on the career both wind farm, which remains on track for completion in the first half of 2027. So our energy projects are typically fed through a structure comprising approximately project finance and 25% equity funding, optimizing returns while maintaining disciplined capital allocation. The project finding is normally drawn from the outset of construction with our equity contributions weighted towards the latter stages of project execution. Importantly, as Ben pointed out, all the project financing structure we have limited recourse to Exxaro's balance sheet and is hedged through interest rate swaps, providing certainty against any interest rate movement risk. Last slide, the new dividend policy. So our increased confidence in the group's diversified earnings base, the balance sheet resilience and long-term cash generation resulted, as we pointed out in the Capital Markets Day in 2 enhancements to the dividend policy, the removal of the ZAR 12 billion to ZAR 15 billion cash buffer and the revision of the dividend cover to 1.5 to 2x or 40% to 67% payout ratio whilst maintaining the 100% so pass-through. So the intention is future growth in future will be financed through internally generated cash flow, also supplemented by the debt facilities what we -- where we raised in the group earlier on. So I'm pleased, as Ben pointed out to announce that the Board has resolved to pay an interim dividend of ZAR 7 per share at an overall group cover ratio of 2x. This includes a pass-through of the SIOC dividend. If you look at the ZAR 7, ZAR 2 is SIOC dividend and reflects a cover of 1.8x on Exxaro's adjusted group earnings. The graph on the right depicts the quality of our shareholder returns and you can see there the enhancement due to the new dividend policy. So the final dividend end of last year, the enhanced dividend from the new policy ZAR 2.93 and this time around ZAR 1.43 per share. So with this, Ben, also from my side, thanks to everybody at Exxaro that made the results possible, whether you are at 1 of the mines at 1 of the wind farms here at the corporate center, also thanks to my finance team, long hours, hard work, but thanks, we we're able to deliver these sets of results.

Thank you, Riaan. Really wonderful set of results, and thanks to everybody. It's a great opportunity for us to be showcasing while everybody else still has to deliver in the operations and the plants. But so as we look to the end of the year and the geopolitical environment, obviously remains uncertain. Tensions, particularly the ongoing conflict in the Middle East continue to create uncertainty across both commodity and energy markets and have an impact on inflationary factors and also shipping rates. We have an emerging risk. I think we all know the local government elections about to take off now. while the domestic operating environment in South Africa really continues to show improvement, whether it's from our 2 networks of Eskom and Transnet, and the current account of treasury, it's really pleasing to see those numbers and the flexibility and the improvements that we are seeing. These dynamics present both risks and opportunities for Exxaro reinforcing the importance of our operational excellence, the importance of cost discipline and the flexibility that we have in our portfolio and as we diversify the portfolio. Again, as this backdrop, the strong operational performance delivered during the first half, clearly positions Exxaro well for the remainder of the year. And we, therefore, reiterate our coal production sales and coal export sales in line with the guidance we gave, including the sustaining capital requirements when Riaan spoke about the truck and shovel project at GG. Compared to the pre-close guidance of 830 megawatts to 860 gigawatts hours -- we revised our renewable energy generation to between 800 and 830 gigawatt hours. This is mainly due to the weaker wind resource conditions that we are seeing and thankfully, we have the dovetailing nature of solar that I spoke about earlier. Importantly, and for the first time, our guidance now incorporates manganese reflect the growing contribution of our metals business pillar to our diversified portfolio. As I highlighted, and we said this at the capital markets, we are finalizing the feasibility study to replace our ERP system and look at all the options because really, we are seeing opportunities of innovation, reduced costs to the extent of a lot of teams and IT systems we would have. And our current system is a legacy system and we are assessing the potential and replacement opportunities that we may get out of that. without compromising shareholder returns. Overall, we remain focused on disciplined execution and delivering against our full year commitments. I would really like to reflect for a moment on the positive social impact your organization continues to create. Our strong performance during the half extends beyond just financial and operational results. We continue this we have done over the past 2 decades to create value for all our stakeholders. I spoke about CSG being with us. And for completeness, Geraldine Fraser Moleketi, as Chair of our SEC Committee. This is an area of focus continuously in terms of when we see the subcommittee and in the full board. During the first half, we created approximately ZAR 10 billion value across both for our employees, our shareholders, government and our financials alongside the ZAR 1.4 billion in social impact spend on our host communities and also our [indiscernible] areas. We opened in [indiscernible] recently our ship-sharing project, which really has provided some much-needed opportunities for our Lebascending area in the Eastern Cape. We maintained that under with lab because I think that's his village. We maintained our Level 2 BBBE data and strengthen the long-term sustainability of our coal operations through the improved intended Belfast integrated Waterberg use license, that I spoke about earlier and also the signing of the Matla coal supply agreement with Eskom. These all support jobs and the economies of our host communities. We delivered strong environmental performance with the LSP, as I spoke about, the solar plant contributing improved carbon intensity and improved energy intensity in reducing costs. These outcomes reflect our continued focus on delivering positive social and environmental impact while creating the long-term value for all our stakeholders. I particularly like the next picture. Let me assure you it was not AI generated. It might be African intelligence, but it's not AI generated. It captures the coexistence of coal-fired power generation and renewable energy in just transition. That's a picture at [indiscernible] a with the coal-fired past session in the background. And our 129,000 panels, supplying 68 megawatts to GG. This is the reality of our country's energy future. a diversified mix and Exxaro is well positioned to be a market leader in both. Our diversified natural resources business has delivered during the half. And that's why we call ourselves natural resources, mining, wind and solar. We achieved our best safety record, which expectedly delivered stronger production performance across the business within the cost inflation I spoke about. The coal business EBITDA went up by 5% and the renewable energy business went up, the EBITDA went up by 2%, contributing to the essentially flat EBITDA that we showed you earlier, mainly impacted by the investment or, call it, one-off acquisition costs in manganese. We are seeing the early results of our strategy execution from the performance of the coal business to the growth of our renewable energy and for the first time to the manganese contributing both to income and operating contributions. And as I said, our once-off transaction costs masked the grade production especially in coal, renewable energy and manganese. Our balance sheet remains strong, and we continue to apply our capital allocation framework with discipline, not only because some people we have we have got deep pockets, but extremely very short hands on the left, giving us really the flexibility that we need to track the consistent lens to our shareholders that we need while still funding the strategic priorities copies. Thank you. Allow me the opportunity to thank again, as Riaan said earlier, our fellow employees for a job well done. We did it safely, and that is most critical to me, your Chief Executive and we produced -- we had excellent production. You contain your costs despite the pressures of diesel to still be within cost inflation. Indeed, I am proud and pleased that we continue to do the best work of our lives at Exxaro. This is who we are today. If I was to share with you the contribution of our growing energy and future-facing metals business want them to account for over 50% of our group earnings by 2030. This way to reduce our group carbon intensity, but for the first time, we have manganese family part of that picture. So today, con call contributes around 3/4 of the group earnings. And by 2030, we expect that to be below 50%, not by reducing coal but by growing the other buckets. And as I said, ultimately reducing our carbon intensity as we aim for our carbon neutrality by 2050. This slide really anchors our strategy in the 3 pillars of coal, renewable energy and the future-facing minerals. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Exxaro today, and this is the business we are building for tomorrow. A diversified natural resources, champion, not only providing the earnings and reducing carbon intensity but providing the career opportunities of many young and upcoming people to make sure that we remain a key driver to our country's economy. We are anchored by long-life, high-quality and cash-generative coal business, a growing renewable energy business and future-facing metals that are built globally with a significant manganese exposure I spoke about. So as we look ahead, we will continue to anchor our coal business and will continue to drive in line with our prudent and disciplined capital allocation, underpinned by our people and the conviction to achieve 0 harm and to do this ethically. These 3 business pillars of coal, renewable energy and manganese and future-facing metals position Exxaro continuously as a consistent dividend payer sustained for growth. And we thank you for your attention this morning. Thank you very much. And I will be joining us now to take us through any discussions, questions and answers that we may -- you may have for us. Thank you.

Thank you, Ben. Thank you, Riaan. We are now going to go to the Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] And then from the room, we are going to go to the to the online platform, and we please remember to also post your questions there, and we'll read them out here. And thank you so much. I think we have a question from Tim Clark.

Congrats on the results. It's Tim Clark from SBG Securities. I've got a few questions. Just let's start off with the Waterberg rail extracted really good numbers coming out of exports out of GG. At the Capital Markets Day, and my sense was that you were a little bit worried about Transnet coming down from GG to [indiscernible] the results seem to be better than that. So I wonder if we could just get a bit of an update on the sort of outlook for rail out of Waterberg? My second question is really just on India. It's quite low in the mix compared to a couple of your peers out of South Africa, and you grew quite strongly in Japan. So I wonder if you could give us a couple of thoughts on the coal that you're producing, the marketing that you're doing? And then maybe if we're lucky, just because the markets are so volatile, what you're currently seeing in the market, what your sense of coal demand is at the moment? And then my last question, just on manganese. If I look at the cash flow statement, and I add up all the numbers that I've got Note 22, which is the acquisition of Manganese attached to them. I get to ZAR 12.95 billion, so let's call it ZAR 13 billion, which was a bit more than I expected in cash outflow for manganese for the chippy part of Manganese. So I wonder if you could talk to us just about that and how much was spent -- maybe there were some adjustments there that I don't understand. And then secondly, just a bit of an update on McCalla if you could, what's happening, what you're expecting in terms of closure of the final leg?

Thank you, Tim. Riaan will touch on the manganese and [indiscernible]. Let me just go through, you're right about our concerns at the Capital Markets Day on [indiscernible]. And I think various concerns are bearing fruit, and it was simply more to give a sense of what the priorities were and how focused our teams were to get that C-section line going. And I must say that the performance of the joint team that we put together between Transnet and Exxaro to drive that performance has been very commendable. And that's why you see the improvements. Never mind the fact that with the rail washaway last year, we continuously see that improvement even if you compare the second half of last year to this half. there's continued improvement in forecast. So if you estimated around the number of trains per week, by the time when we were talking, we're possibly playing around 3 trains a week, we are seeing now growingly 4, 5 trains a week. Our aspiration is to get to 7, even higher. So we [indiscernible] yet. But I think we are very pleased with the progress that we have made, Tim. So maybe that covers on the logistics side because the more we can do that, obviously, you know it that the profitable -- the most profitable route is retail pay and especially directly railed. So we continue to put that effort, and I'm very pleased that as much as our [indiscernible] keep bringing with Transnet, we're actually seeing it in the numbers. So that's very pleasing. On the marketing side, I think the volatility of the prices and especially when you start seeing prices rising, Never mind the fact that India has lower steel demand and they have produced more locally in India. So it means they have needed less coal. But whenever we see high prices, the end customers tend to withdraw to some extent. So you will see that if you compare, as you said, around the peers, that the price realization of Zaro is possibly north of 9%. And the price realization of peers you put it, is a lot lower than 90%. And which means they are possibly still selling into a much less margin, less profitable market. But our teams and Fortune and Saki and Lester, they work hard is looking for alternatives. So what we saw in Taiwan and the growth you have seen in Japan has given us real comfort that -- and because they are more the Japanese market is more sticky. And once you have a premium product that they can have a lot of mind kind of approach, we saw almost record tenure of contracts in Japan and for competitive purposes, I won't say the number. But I think that it's very helpful to see Japanese and Taiwan growing because there, they need the RB1 and we have that with our product mix and we have been able to take advantage of that with a much higher price realization than our peers. Thanks, Tim. I hope that covers those 2, and Koppes will cover the Manganese questions.

Yes. So on [indiscernible], the agreement to have [indiscernible], I think it's progressing well with reached agreement on most of the outstanding issues. Hopefully, we should be able to conclude that and put it to bed before the long date that we indicated to the market, I think it was February 2027. So that is on [indiscernible]. Then on the cash flow, the ZAR 10.6 million, so remember, included in that cash flow was ZAR 1.5 billion for Jupiter, about ZAR 1.5 billion for the hotel, the 9% in teal. And then the balance will be and then also the marketing company. And then the ZAR 2.5 billion is actually almost in an outflow because we refinanced that debt in the company subsequent to 30 June, just to give context on that.

Thanks, Riaan. And Brian, can give it to Brian.

It's Brian Morgan from Morgan Stanley. Just 2 questions from my side. First is we only left about ZAR 4 billion of cash on the balance sheet. Is that the new cash buffer, mid-to 15 or -- is that [indiscernible]? Maybe just chat to us about that.

Yes. So the -- remember, even at the Capital Markets Day, I think at the Capital Markets Day, the cash was more or less at the same level -- so we said the cash on the balance sheet is earmarked for Mala. So Mala, really the maximum depending on whether the tag along rights, et cetera, exercised is ZAR 4 billion. The Toro acquisition on energy is 1.8 ZAR 1.9 billion. That still needs to close. And then our equity contributions for Korea Bors and also the other energy transaction is about ZAR 1 billion. So what we then say is then the intention is to run the business, cash-free, debt-free. So you only really get into that if you do acquisitions or growth.

And then just the next question, just further on that Waterberg rail, the C-section story. Could you flesh out a little bit about what's happened is it signaling? Is it more locos, is it more transit? Just maybe a little bit more granularity on because it's a big price, right?

It is indeed a big price, Brian, I think predominantly its operating efficiency side times for the trains. And if you improve cycle times, you can get more trains on it. In terms it's a bit of a distant set up, the prioritization is possibly much better in the Puma [indiscernible] area for Transnet. Once you send a train more to the Waterberg, it takes a bit longer. So having improved some cycle times, operational efficiencies, I think we didn't have a wash away as we say it for this year. So there is also some underlying operating and fixing of infrastructure, but predominantly, it's a lot to do with improvement of cycle times and increasing the number of trains per week which, as I said to you, we're lying somewhere around 2, 3, now they're sitting around 4, 5. And if we can get another improvement to 5, 6, 7, then I think we continue to be on the right path. We know the export optionality of Exxaro and GG, and we still have a lot of stock to do that.

Thank you, Ben. We have another question from Thobela.

It's Thobela Bixa from Nedbank CIB. I've got 2 sort of questions. I'd like to start with Cofastand then get 2 answers and then come back again. So the first 1 on coal is just with regards, again, this Waterberg story. With that 50% improvement, where does that put view in terms of your capacity for that Waterberg rail capacity? Where does that put you? And how far are you to making that your capacity there? And then the second 1 is on your realized pricing, which was 5% down relative to previous reporting period. it is a bit surprising, especially given that you have increased your RB1 sort of contribution. Can you just maybe give us more clarity as to what is it about marketing and your realized pricing that get in this half?

Thank you. I'll do the sea line and then you can pick up on the realized prices, I think. Then the Waterberg line, that C-section is about 3.9, if you area, I call it 4 million tonne capacity. And of 4 million tonnes, there's some sharing between the ferrochrome industry and the coal industry because that line comes through Amandelbult, Rustenburg then down. If you look at what we could do there, there is not from -- if you look at the period of Russia, Ukraine, we moved a lot more. So if you say the half we produced, we moved 600 million tonnes. We moved 600,000 tonnes there right now. And you can apply it by 2 and you get to 1.2. Can we get even higher? Absolutely. So we think the -- that C-section line still have so much to go to the 4 million tonne capacity of the rail that it has got. It's possibly sitting at about half right now as we speak, and we take a portion of that. So the work that we are doing with Transnet with the Minister of Transport on both the public sector partnership and the customer collaboration program with Transnet is geared and you are aware of those train operating companies that were brought in. So there's opportunities given the appetite to privatize and to also bring in more players and we're talking to a few of those players to see how we can improve over the long term. In the short term, I think we have that scope as we talk about possibly move from 5 trains a week to about 7 trains a week.

Yes. So on the 91% realization, what you will normally see when the market goes up, so that customers don't want to lock in the price. They want a fixed price. They don't want to be exposed to the index because you obviously only sometimes settle the contract later on. So the increase in coal price environment customers tend some of them to want a fixed price. And then in a declining environment, you'll see vice versa, where the customers wouldn't want fixed term contracts or fixed price contracts, they would like to have index-based contracts. So I think it's that dynamic.

Yes. Okay. And then right -- we've got other questions on manganese.

Okay. Just on manganese then. I mean, I think your production there was quite strong. Could you just talk to us as to what would you think is your normalized level? And I mean I'm saying strong because we know that there's been heavy rains in the Northern Cape and some of the producers within the province have struggled when it comes to production. And then final question is around, I guess, your EBITDA, even if 1 strips out the one-offs that you spoke to I don't necessarily think it does speak to your sort of first half cost curve type of operations. Could you just talk to us as to now that you have sight of the operations, what -- I mean what do you think about the mines operation? Because I think at fast plants, it doesn't seem as though they are as good as perhaps initially thought.

Right. So it's production and then the EBITDA in manganese ore talking about that Okay. I think the production numbers we have guided quite clearly there, Tobia, 3.2% to 3.4%, but noting that, that guidance is sales, not necessarily production. So you may have some movements around inventory depending on what you see in terms of market conditions. Is that the appropriate kind of number? We think so. So I think Manganese business around the 3.5 million tonnes for CP is possibly ideal given the infrastructure and capacity that exists today. Is there a scope for more? We think so, and we continue to explore what is possible. I think the cost position of TP really places it well. The impact of diesel I think in that environment is much bigger because obviously, as much as the manganese line is doing well, the logistics still requires additional -- the mega entitlement is not enough and therefore, there's still more road transport, which impacts -- which gets impact from diesel. So there is still cost pressures, mainly driven by diesel that comes through the manganese side. So if you look at the challenges today, I think the cost position of CP because of its high volume, really places it well on the lower half of the cost curve. We still see benefits in that, and we'll continue to drive -- we've got 1 here who is nodding and they continue to drive the efficiencies that we would expect and the kind of benefits that I think a competence and capabilities in bulk mining could be transferred for the benefit of all stakeholders in that business. You may want to take on.

Yes. So obviously, also a big impact similar to SIOC exchange rate. Remember, [indiscernible] is exported. So in EBITDA type of performance exchange rate, will play a big role. And as we pointed out, logistics costs, if you look at manganese, 1/3 is basically your on-mine cost and 2/3 are logistical cost and what we're currently seeing in the world. So the CIF price that went up is basically mainly due to the logistics and shipping cost included in that price.

And then the EBITDA?