London- and Toronto-listed Anglo Pacific Group on Wednesday announced that Julian Treger would step down from his role as CEO by the end of March next year, and said that a comprehensive search process was under way to find his successor.

Treger joined Anglo Pacific in 2013 and has been instrumental in leading the transition of the business away from coal and towards twenty-first-century commodities aligned to the decarbonisation of energy, which will be required to meet climate change goals.

He has led the group's $450-million investments over the last eight years, including the "transformative" $205-million Voisey's Bay cobalt stream acquisition, which was completed in March. These acquisitions now mean that over 60% of the group's asset base by value is in base and battery metals.

“The company has been transformed from predominantly a single producing royalty holder in 2013, which is when I took over, to a business with a stable revenue profile and exposure to commodities which should be key towards the transition away from fossil fuels and into cleaner energy and technology,” commented Treger in a statement.

He said that it was the “right time to hand over to somebody new” to steer Anglo Pacific through its next phase of growth.

Chairperson Patrick Meier added that the company was “barely recognisable from that which he took over”. “. . . he had the vision and leadership to pivot towards commodities which will be vital to achieving climate change goals with sustainability firmly at the forefront. His commitment and astute investment skills have been key to our success.”

FINANCIAL RESULTS
Meanwhile, Anglo Pacific reported that its total portfolio contribution for the first half of 2021 was $23-million, down 4% on the first half of 2020, resulting in adjusted earnings of 5.5c a share. However, the company said the outlook for the second half was "very positive", with the key commodities underlying its portfolio now at 12-month highs.

Earnings were impacted by the financing for Voisey's Bay, which saw Anglo Pacific dispose of 77% of its LIORC stake, removing this revenue from the first half of 2021, while revenue from Voisey's Bay only started in the second quarter.

"The first-half results do not reflect what appears likely to be a strong year for Anglo Pacific. The recent increase in coking and thermal coal spot prices, currently at 52-week highs, accelerated at the beginning of June, lagging the increases which took hold for other commodities at the beginning of the year. Coking coal prices have increased 120% in the year to date, with 90% of this occurring in the last three months. Thermal coal is up by 102% year to date and 80% in the last three months. With stability now appearing to have returned to coal markets, we are cautiously optimistic that these price levels can be sustained through the second half of 2021," said Treger.

"The outlook for commodities in general continues to be well supported by significant infrastructure commitments outlined by some of the largest economies as a means to ensure no lasting damage caused by the Covid pandemic. This is most recently evidenced by the approval of the $1tn stimulus package in the US. Coupled with ongoing momentum in the development of decarbonisation technology, and the possibility of rising inflation, we see solid fundamentals for sustained pricing levels for commodities. As a result, we are confident that the second half will see a significantly higher outturn than that of the first six months of the year."

NARRABRI FOR SALE
Further, Anglo Pacific has reviewed its portfolio and said that its royalty on Narrabri, a thermal coal mine in New South Wales, Australia, may be up for sale.

The company said that it had become increasingly difficult to own coal in a public vehicle, with some coal operations changing hands at highly subsidised prices by vendors.

"We have reviewed our own portfolio and, despite Narrabri producing one of the lowest ash and sulphur thermal coal products in a highly regulated mining jurisdiction, we have decided to explore whether it is in our shareholders' best interests to continue to own this asset. We have commenced discussing a potential sale with a number of a parties and, although this is at an early stage in the process, we are encouraged by the level of interest to date."

Anglo Pacific in 2015 acquired a royalty interest in ASX-listed Whitehaven Coal's Narrabri coal project. The royalty entitles the holder to royalty payments equal to 1% of gross revenue on all coal produced from within the area.