Record coal sales and higher coal sales prices led to $2 billion in total revenues for Tulsa-based Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. Company leaders called it an exceptional performance.
The company with major coal-mining operations around the country stated the revenues grew by 11.5% over the 2017 total earnings. Net income grew by nearly 21% to $366.6 million for the 2018 year compared to $303.6 million for all of 2017.
It resulted in a net income of $2.74 per share for 2018 compared to $2.80 in 2017.
Adjusted earnings grew by 12.2% in the 2018 to $686.9 million.
The company’s fourth quarter 2018 earnings were up 10.1% to $531.8 million compared to a year earlier.
ARLP also announced that the Board of Directors of its general partner (the “Board”) increased the cash distribution to unitholders for the 2018 Quarter to $0.53 per unit (an annualized rate of $2.12 per unit), payable on February 14, 2019 to all unitholders of record as of the close of trading on February 7, 2019. The announced distribution represents a 3.9% increase over the cash distribution of $0.51 per unit for the 2017 Quarter and a 1.0% increase over the cash distribution of $0.525 per unit for the Sequential Quarter.
Commenting on the year, Joseph W. Craft III, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “ARLP entered 2018 with expectations for strong operating and financial results and continued execution on its strategic objective to generate future growth in cash flow. Our performance certainly met those expectations. Capitalizing on positive fundamentals in the domestic and international coal markets in 2018, we grew our production by 7.1%, delivered record coal sales volumes, improved coal sales price realizations and posted higher year-over-year revenues, net income and EBITDA.”
