Junior coal miner Wescoal declared a dividend of 3.1c per share for the six months to September as its recent acquisition of rival Keaton Energy helped to boost interim profit. Wescoal, whose biggest customer is Eskom, also raised its black ownership to 59% at the end of 2016, above the power utility’s requirement of 51% for its suppliers. Wescoal shares slipped 0.5% to 207c after the results were released. They are down about 10% over the past year. CEO Waheed Sulaiman said this could reflect the issue of more shares and the exit of some former Keaton shareholders who did not wish to retain shares in the merged entity. He said problems reported at Eskom were not affecting Wescoal operations and relations with Eskom were on a sound footing, but they could be having a reputational effect. Wescoal is completing studies on a coal project at Moabsvelden, formerly part of Keaton, which would be presented to the board for an investment decision in January. Discussions on an Eskom supply c...
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