Following the results of 2023, the coal mining company “Shubarkol Premium”, which is partially controlled by businessman Timur Kulibayev, posted a loss. Furthermore, the enterprise refused to pay dividends and terminated the trust management agreement with its subsidiary - Baltic Terminals.
According to Forbes.kz, on 23 August the shareholders of JSC “Shubarkol Premium” unanimously decided that the company would not pay dividends for 2023. This is presumably due to the fact that the JSC posted a loss of 4.02 billion tenge for the year.
“Converted to each ordinary share in circulation, this is minus 939.49 tenge, with the book value of one share being just over 10.5 thousand tenge in 2023. At the same time, ‘Shubarkol Premium’ ended 2022 with a profit — 71.9 billion tenge, and each of its shares ‘earned’ 16.8 thousand tenge then (with a book value of almost 11.5 thousand tenge per share). In 2022, incidentally, the JSC owners allocated the net income for the first quarter — 31.1 billion tenge — to dividends”, the statement said.
It has become known that the revenue of the coal asset in 2023 also decreased - from 179.6 billion tenge the previous year to 74.5 billion tenge.
“The company explained this by ‘a 26% decrease in physical sales volume due to falling demand’, as well as a drop in coal exchange quotations ($145 versus $400 per tonne)”, Forbes reported.
It is noted that the majority of “Shubarkol Premium”’s products are supplied abroad. In 2023, out of revenue amounting to 74.5 billion tenge, exports brought the company 71.4 billion tenge. In 2022, exports brought 171.9 billion tenge, or 95.7% of total revenue.
The company attributed this success to major traders purchasing the coal — MIR TRADE AG (Switzerland), KRU Overseas Limited (Cyprus), LLC “Asia Group” (Georgia).
At the same time, it became known that in January of this year, “Shubarkol Premium” terminated the trust management agreement under which 100% of the equity interests in its subsidiary — LLP “Baltic Terminals” — were managed by LLP “Coal management”.
It is reported that in 2018, “Shubarkol Premium” acquired Baltic Terminals from another company controlled by Kulibayev — Joint Technologies.
“Baltic Terminals was registered in November 2017. It was paid for at 227 thousand tenge, with the book value of assets at the time of acquisition being 0 tenge”, the statement said.
As it turned out, in December 2021, “Shubarkol Premium” transferred the subsidiary to the trust management of Coal Management LLP under a three-year contract — until 31 December 2024.
However, on 1 December 2023, a government resolution came into force, as a result of which the export of certain types of coal was only permitted to holders of exclusive rights.
“Shubarkol coal belongs to a specific type of coal, but Baltic Terminals is not included in the list of foreign trade participants holding the exclusive right. Therefore, on 4 January 2024, the trust management agreement was terminated”, the statement said.
JSC “Shubarkol Premium” was established in 2013, and by 2019 the company had entered the list of the 50 largest private companies in the Forbes Kazakhstan ranking. The authorised capital of the enterprise as of 31 December 2023 amounted to 9.5 billion tenge.
The shares of “Shubarkol Premium” are owned by three companies: 67% — JSC “Joint Resources (sole shareholder - Timur Kulibayev), 16.5% each — LLP “Trans Coal Investment Group” and LLP “FCI Management LLP”.