Background
Blackgold Natural Resources (BNR) was formerly known as NH Ceramics. On Mar15, it acquired three coal concessions for US$150mn through the issuance of 635.6mn shares at S$0.295 each. The most valuable concession is Samantaka Batubara (SB), its only coal producing mine, has reserves of 147mn tonnes. The other two concessions are at the exploratory stage.
Share price drivers
Risk
Financing of Riau 1 opportunity is large: To capitalize on Riau 1 opportunity, BNR will need to fund the expansion of coal production by 3.5mn. BNR will require US$60mn in capital expenditure. Another financing need will be if BNR takes a stake in the Riau 1 power plant itself. While details are limited, we estimate BNR will require another US$54mn for a 20% stake in Riau 1.
Investment action
We initiate with Trading BUY and target price of S$0.16. Positive news-flow from the surge in coal sales and award of Riau 1 project will be the major share price drivers for BNR. At our target price, BNR will be trading at 10x PE FY18e. This will be in line with regional peers.
Background
Blackgold Natural Resources (BNR) was formerly known as NH Ceramics. On Mar15, it acquired three coal concessions (Figure 29) for US$150mn through the issuance of 635.6mn shares at S$0.295 each.
The most valuable concession is Samantaka Batubara (SB), which is its only coal producing mine and has reserves of 147mn tonnes. The other two concessions are at the exploratory stage.
Figure 29: Of the three concession, only SB has reserves and production
Investment Thesis
1) Share price driver 1: Coal production and sales ramp
SB only started production in FY16 with 30,000 tonnes. We expect this to spike to 1.3mn tonnes in FY18e. A risk to production will be further delays by customer Santosa and Soma. Both are earmarked for power plants.
Figure 32: Breakdown of our FY18e coal sales estimate
2) Share price driver 2: More new customers
Over the last 12 months, SB has secured two major customers – PLN Tenayan and Semen Padang (Figure 32). We do not rule out the company securing even more customer or increased demand from existing customers, in view of the increasing demand for power in Sumatra. Power consumption in Sumatra has been growing 9% p.a. the past five years. This is expected to rise even faster to 11% p.a. from 2017-2026 or double in six years, according to PLN (RUPTL).
3) Share price driver 3: Award of Riau 1 power plant project
The big opportunity will be the award of Riau 1 power project. BNR will enjoy two sources of profits from Riau 1 mine-mouth. The first profit will be supplying on an exclusive basis, 3.5mn tonnes coal per annum to the power plant, for 30 years. This will triple 2018e production*. Secondly, BNR is able to enjoy profits generated by the Riau 1 power project itself.
* Based on the Independent Qualified Person’s Report (“IQPR”), SB can report US$30m PATMI with Riau 1 coal supply (but this excludes financing cost).
Figure 33: Some Details of Riau 1
Investment risk
The largest risk to our investment thesis is funding of Riau 1 opportunity. There will be two areas of funding required. Firstly, to expand coal capacity by 3.5mn tonnes, BNR will require capital expenditure of around US$60mn. This was highlighted in the IQPR (10 Aug17); Secondly, BNR intends to take a stake in the Riau 1 power plant project. There have been no details of the cost of the project. Our estimates are based on other power plant projects is a capital expenditure of around US$900mn. Assuming 30% equity funding for Riau 1 and BNR takes a 20% stake, it will cost BNR US$54mn.
Valuation
We are assuming BNR earns US$10.9m PATMI in FY18e. This is on the back of 1.3mn tonnes coal sales and ASP of US$40/tonne with a cash cost of US$25/tonne.
We are pegging BNR valuations to regional peers. This gives us a valuation of around 10x PE. This gives us a target price of S$0.16 (assuming US$1 = S$1.36). We think BNR should trade in line with industry due to its high growth in production.
Worth noting that our PATMI is sensitive to our assumptions. Every 1% change in ASP is 4% impact to PATMI. And every 1% change in cash cost has similar 1% impact to PATMI.
Figure 36: We estimate FY18e PATMI of S$10.9m
(This report is part of the Coal Sector report published on the same day.)
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Paul has 20 years of experience as a fund manager and sell-side analyst. During his time as fund manager, he has managed multiple funds and mandates including capital guaranteed, dividend income, renewable energy, single country and regionally focused funds.
He graduated from Monash University and had completed both his Chartered Financial Analyst and Australian CPA programme.
