Doncaster firm reports loss after fire burns margin

Coalfield Resources, the Yorkshire headquartered company created by the restructure of UK Coal last year, made a significant loss in the six months to 20th June.

The company, based in Doncaster, reported a loss of £1.7m mainly due to the write off of mining debts and restructuring fees not recoverable.

Coalfield Resources plc was, until December 2012, the parent company of the UK’s largest coal miner, UK Coal.

In one of the most complex restructuring in UK corporate history, Coalfield Resources, which was previously known as UK Coal plc, split its operating business into two separate units - property and mining - and gifted 75% of the property business to the trustees of the mining business pension fund.

At the same time, in December 2012, it relinquished control of the coal mining operations to an Employee Benefit Trust.

Consequent upon this restructuring, Coalfield Resources has effectively become a property company through its 24.9% shareholding in Harworth Estates Property Group Limited, the property business it owns jointly with its former mining companies pension fund.

Since the December restructuring, the former mining business suffered a major fire at one of its mines which caused a failure of that business.

The deal saved 2,000 jobs, including 120 miners who were previously employed at the fire-ravaged Daw Mill site.

Commenting on the results, Jonson Cox, chairman, said: “Over the first six months since our successful restructuring in December 2012, Coalfield Resources has worked on the forward-looking strategy for the Harworth Estates property business, while also assisting our former colleagues in the mining business with the events that followed the fire at Daw Mill in February.

“As a result of the further restructuring of the mining business, we have relinquished our part in the governance of the mines. With the recently announced rights issue enabling us to repay debt, Coalfield Resources is in a position to move forward and concentrate on developing the value of its investment in the Harworth Estates Group.”