Mining royalty specialist Anglo Pacific Group plc (LON:APF TSX:APY) expects income this year to be well ahead of 2015 as coking coal prices have started to recover.
Royalties in the first quarter to March dropped to £1.9mln (£2.3mln) but, like 2015, income is expected to be heavily weighted towards the second half of the year said Julian Treger, chief executive.
“We continue to expect royalty income for 2016 as a whole to be significantly higher than the £8.7m earned in 2015, a year which marked the beginning of a turnaround for the group in terms of production returning to the group's royalty land at Kestrel and a full year of income for the Narrabri royalty.”
Narrabri and Kestrel are coal mines in Australia.
Anglo Pacific has also invested into the uranium business recently with this quarter seeing £0.2mln from the Four Mile royalty, its first income from that source.
The stake in Spanish uranium explorer Berkeley Energia (LON:BKY) is currently worth US$10mln more than its £10.3mln book value said Treger.
Cash equivalents were £3.7mln at end March and borrowings £9.3mln.