Energy

Peabody Energy One Step Closer to Bankruptcy Filing

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When it filed its Form 10-K annual report Wednesday morning with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), coal miner Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU) said that there is “substantial doubt whether we will be able to continue as a going concern.” The only surprise here is how long this took.

In its filing, Peabody said its current operating plan shows that it will continue to incur losses from operations and generate negative cash flow from operations:

These projections and other liquidity risks raise substantial doubt about whether we will meet our obligations as they become due within one year after the date of this report.

Less than two weeks ago we detailed the difficulties the company is having selling some of its assets to Bowie Resource Partners and Peabody’s inability to restructure some debt. On Tuesday the company skipped a $50 million semiannual coupon payment on its 10% $1 billion second-lien notes and a $21 million semiannual payment on its $650 million 6.5% unsecured bonds. The notes mature in 2022 and the bonds are due in 2020. The company has a 30-day grace period to make the payments, but the issue is whether Peabody can scare up the cash.


When Peabody reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 results in February, it claimed liquidity of $902.6 million, including $778.5 million in cash, $123 million available under the company’s accounts receivable securitization and the remainder under the revolving credit facility. Peabody also had $823.7 million in letters of credit.

But that is not enough, and the end could come as soon as the end of this month:

In addition, we currently anticipate that our reported Adjusted EBITDA and other sources of earnings or adjustments used to calculate Consolidated EBITDA … will fall below our Consolidated Net Cash Interest Charges during 2016, and we anticipate we will not comply with our financial covenants as of March 31, 2016. Absent waivers or cures, non-compliance with such covenants would constitute a default under the 2013 Credit Facility.

Peabody noted that it may be able to obtain waivers from its lenders, but that given its projections and liquidity problems, there remains “substantial doubt” that the company could meet its obligations for the coming year.

The company’s stock closed down about 10.5% on Tuesday at $4.01 and traded down another 40% Wednesday morning to $2.45 in the premarket session. The 52-week range is $2.01 to $99.90.

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