Stand back everybody for results for Thungela Resources (LSE:TGA) PLC, the company that was formed by the demerger of Anglo American’s South African thermal coal operations.
Coal is about as popular as Harry Kane in a White Hart Lane chip shop these days, with one broker describing it as the “most unpopular commodity under our coverage”.
"Evolving investor mandates increasingly reject this source of carbon emissions,” Liberum Capital Markets said earlier this month in a research note on Thungela.
Nevertheless, it held its nose and put a “buy” recommendation on the stock, pointing out that “a third of the world’s power-generating capacity is coal-fired”.
Friday’s interims will be the first set of results since the shares listed in June.
Expect lots of commentary on how the company is very important to the local economy.
“Thungela has an enviable cash cost position and is poised to deliver attractive returns to shareholders,” said July Ndlovu, the group’s chief executive when the company demerged.
Focus is also likely to be on cost optimisation, productivity improvements and even ESG (environmental, social and governance) performance.