Welcome to the Peabody Second Quarter Earnings Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please also note that this event is being recorded. And at this time, I would now like to turn the conference over to Karla Kimrey, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning. And thank you for joining Peabody’s earnings call for the second quarter of 2023. With me today, our President and CEO Jim Grech, CFO Mark Spurbeck and our Chief Marketing Officer Malcolm Roberts. Within the earnings release, you'll find our statement on forward-looking information as well as a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures. We encourage you to consider the risk factors referenced there along with our public filings with the SEC. I'll now turn the call over to Jim.

Thanks, Karla. And good morning, everyone. In the second quarter of 2023, our unique diversified portfolio allowed us to successfully execute against our plan while operating in a volatile market environment. In the quarter, we initiated our annual shareholder return program with a fixed dividend and a meaningful share buyback plan. We returned $262 million through our shareholder return program in the last quarter. I want to thank our global employees for their continued focus on working safely and efficiently. Now turning to the global coal markets, seaborne thermal coal markets remain volatile, with prices declining during the second quarter. Comparatively high coal and natural gas inventories in the northern hemisphere following an unseasonably warm winter have weighed on demand, leading to a weaker pricing environment for high-energy thermal coals. China's year-to-date thermal coal imports point to significant increases in consumption of seaborne thermal coal, with an annual thermal coal import run rate of approximately 400 million tons per year, representing approximately a 90% increase over 2022 levels. India too has shown signs of improved economic activity during the first half of 2023, leading to increased power demand and elevated coal imports. Overall, demand for seaborne thermal coal is robust, and supply remains constrained across major supply regions. We anticipate that the onset of peak summer energy demand in the northern hemisphere, followed by a restocking in preparation for winter, will contribute to a normalization of inventory levels, providing support to seaborne thermal coal markets. Within the seaborne metallurgical market, global crude steel output during the quarter was variable, with interruptions at European blast furnaces offset by notable year-on-year crude steel production growth in both China and India. Metallurgical coal supply has remained constrained primarily due to residual impacts of wet weather events in Queensland during the first quarter of 2023. The rate of exports from Queensland remains below historical rates and premium hard coking coal pricing remains elevated, finishing the quarter at $233 a ton. The outlook for the metallurgical coal market remains positive, with subdued seaborne supply combined with anticipated increases in import demand for steelmaking raw materials along with improving crude steel production rates in Europe, North Asia and India. In the United States, overall electricity demand decreased nearly 4% year-over-year, negatively impacted by weather. Through the six months ended June 30, 2023, electricity generation from thermal coal declined year-over-year due to low gas prices and nearly level renewable generation. Coal inventories have increased approximately 50% during the six months ended June 30, 2023. Natural gas prices have recovered modestly from the lows of earlier this year, with U.S. natural gas prompt pricing at $2.65 per mmBtu. The EIA is currently forecasting U.S. natural gas prices to average $2.80 per mmBtu in the second half of 2023, an increase from the $2.40 per mmBtu in the first half of the year. Overall, near-term demand for U.S. thermal coal is anticipated to improve in the third quarter compared to the second quarter. Now moving on to our operating segments. As expected, our seaborne thermal coal exports came in at 2.6 million tons higher than the prior quarter as the Wambo Longwall move was completed and wet weather that impacted the first quarter was abated. Segment costs per ton were aligned with the first quarter as higher production was offset by the timing of equipment repair and maintenance costs. Our seaborne metallurgical coal shipments were stronger than expected at 2 million tons due to strong sales out of the CMJV complex. In the second quarter, we had good success with our operations at Shoal Creek, recovering from the first quarter fire. During the second quarter, we were able to seal off the two longwall panels in the J panel area of the mine. We resumed development coal production in the new L panel area and anticipate better mining conditions. A new longwall kit for the mine is expected to be delivered by the end of the year. In the PRB, shipments were lower than anticipated. Shipments were impacted by low customer demand due to low natural gas pricing, high coal inventory levels and the June tornado event at NARM. In addition, the basin had an abnormal amount of rainfall, causing a slowdown at some of our operations. The second quarter is typically the wettest in the basin, which impacts the transportation corridors. Other U.S. thermal shipments are impacted by lower customer demand as a result of low natural gas prices and high utility inventories. Looking solely at our sold position, the volume should increase in the second half. The consumption of PRB coal has declined due to low natural gas prices and generally unfavorable weather conditions in the first half. We are working with our customers to be responsive to their needs while retaining the value in our contracts. Our adjusted guidance reflects our current assessment of sales going forward, taking into account the current U.S. market conditions. In addition to our active operations, the company continues to advance redevelopment efforts at North Goonyella with key project milestones and critical cold path items on track. Activities today have included procuring equipment, refurbishment and replacement of surface infrastructure, Zone A remediation, and the completion of the drilling program for Zone B re-ventilation, advancing work necessary to reenter Zone B. The next significant milestone for re-ventilation and reentry of Zone B is currently targeted for mid-September, subject to regulatory approval. Since commencing redevelopment in North Goonyella in late 2022, the company has invested $53 million of the initial approved redevelopment capital expenditures, which includes further ventilation, equipment, conveyors and infrastructure updates in anticipation of reaching development coal production, subject to regulatory approvals, in the first quarter of 2024. Before I turn it over to Mark, I would like to address a tornado event that impacted NARM. On June 23, our North Antelope Rochelle Mine in the PRB was struck by an EF-2 tornado. Six people had to temporarily go to the hospital, but fortunately, no one was critically injured. While we are back to full shipments, we did have considerable damage to the surface buildings. We appreciate all our employees' efforts in returning the mine to full operations. I'll now turn it over to Mark to cover the financial details.

Thanks, Jim. In the second quarter, we recorded net income attributable to common stockholders of $179 million or $1.15 per diluted share, and adjusted EBITDA of $358 million. The second quarter results included a $34 million charge for the write-off of certain underground development and equipment at Shoal Creek and property losses related to the tornado at NARM. The company's leading diversified portfolio of mines generated $353 million of cash flow from operations, enhanced by a $109 million working capital benefit, which will largely reverse next quarter. With our balance sheet built to withstand the volatility and lower prices we saw in the second quarter, we were pleased to return $262 million to shareholders, including a cash dividend of $11 million and share repurchases of $251 million. This reduced our share count by 8.3% in just one quarter. We currently have $749 million of remaining authorization under the $1 billion share repurchase program. We remain committed to returning at least 65% of annual available free cash flow, keeping returns right-sized based on operating and financial performance. After the recently declared second quarter cash dividend of $0.075 per share, at least $142 million remains available for shareholder returns, expected to be used for additional share repurchases. Turning now to the second quarter segment results. Seaborne Thermal recorded $198 million of adjusted EBITDA, which is 20% higher than the prior quarter despite a significant decline in the average Newcastle benchmark price. Higher production rates drove costs to the low end of our guidance range, and higher export shipments resulted in adjusted EBITDA margins of approximately $50 per ton. The seaborne metallurgical segments generated $103 million of adjusted EBITDA. Shipments of 2 million tons exceeded expectations and were over 50% higher than the previous quarter, due to higher sales from the CMJV as they recovered from first quarter rains. Costs were $13 per ton lower primarily due to higher production and lower sales price-sensitive costs. The U.S. thermal mines produced $78 million of adjusted EBITDA impacted by fewer shipments due to low natural gas prices and higher utility customer inventories. The PRB mines generated $26 million of adjusted EBITDA. Tons sold were 3.1 million tons lower than the prior quarter. We lost approximately 1 million tons at the end of the quarter due to the tornado that struck the NARM mine, and volume on two requirements contracts were 1.2 million tons lower than expected. The other U.S. thermal mines delivered $52 million of adjusted EBITDA. Tons sold decreased by approximately 700,000 tons compared to the prior quarter, but a laser-like focus on operations drove costs down to less than $40 per ton, maintaining adjusted EBITDA margins of 26%. With the first half complete, we've updated our outlook for the remainder of the year. Seaborne thermal volume has increased by 500,000 tons to 15 million to 16 million tons due to higher expected production at Wilpinjong. Seaborne metallurgical volume is expected to be 500,000 tons lower at 6.5 million to 7.5 million tons due to less than previously anticipated production at the CMJV and Shoal Creek. PRB shipments have been revised downward to 80 million to 85 million tons, reflecting the impacts of low natural gas prices, utility inventories and mild weather to date in major coal generation regions. For similar reasons, other U.S. thermal volumes have been reduced to 16.5 million to 17.5 million tons. We should note that committed sales volumes exceed our thermal guidance. Given the continued low natural gas price and rail limitations, we expect customers in limited situations to request deferral of volume into next year. We will only entertain such requests if we preserve the full economic value of existing commitments. Specifically for the third quarter, seaborne thermal export volumes are expected to increase to 2.7 million tons, with approximately 300,000 tons priced on average at $181 per ton. 1.4 million tons of high ash product and 1 million tons of Newcastle product are unpriced. Costs are expected to be lower quarter-over-quarter at $45 to $50 per ton. Seaborne metallurgical volumes are projected to be lower than the second quarter at 1.5 million tons due to a longwall move at metropolitan. 200,000 tons are priced at $216 and the remaining unpriced volumes are expected to achieve 70% to 80% of the premium hard coking coal price index. Lower premium hard coking coal prices and a widening gap to PCI coals are anticipated to result in more favorable price-sensitive costs, lowering expected costs to $115 to $125 per ton. In the PRB, we are anticipating shipments to increase to 21 million tons at an average price of $13.80 per ton and costs of approximately $11.75 per ton. Other U.S. thermal shipments are expected to increase from the second quarter to approximately 4.2 million tons, at an average price of $50.50 per ton and costs of approximately $41 per ton. In summary, we have a unique diversified portfolio of assets and the necessary financial flexibility to succeed in all markets. We will maintain rigorous discipline in capital allocation and expect to return at least 65% of annual available free cash flow to shareholders.

Thank you. At this time, we will take our first question from Lucas Pipes with B Riley. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much, operator. Good morning, everyone. It's great to see those capital allocations to shareholders during the quarter. I wanted to start my first question on that point of shareholder returns. So we kind of think of the $142 million that remain available as being used for buybacks over the next three months. Would you deploy $142 million to buybacks between now and the time you report Q3 results, and then when those Q3 results are announced, you re-evaluate with whatever free cash flow is available? Is that the cadence going forward?

Yes. Good morning, Lucas. And thanks for hanging in there with us. I know it is a very, very busy earnings call day, so I appreciate the questions. Regarding the shareholder return program, you are correct. We remain committed to returning at least 65% of available free cash flow on an annual basis. You'll see the calculation in the earnings release that sums up to that. Certainly last quarter, we did go above the 65%.

Got it. Okay, but it's not like it would be more than $142 million over the next three months in terms of buybacks—you would reconvene in three months and look at Q3 results and that would determine the forward pace?

Again, we're going to return at least 65%, and we don't share any specific details. It's fair to think of it that way, Lucas, but I'll refer you to last quarter where we did a bit more than the 65% in the last quarter. But we will evaluate it each quarter and show 65% on a year-to-date annual basis.

Got it. That's clear. Thank you for that. And then turning to operations, it's good to see the increase in the thermal guidance for the year. I wondered if you could elaborate a little bit on the key drivers for that. And then on Shoal Creek, should we think of that mine as a one longwall mine going forward? Thanks for your color on that.

So I'll talk about Shoal Creek first. Good to hear your voice again, Lucas. Yes. We have the new longwall coming in; delivery has already started. We're expecting to get that delivered here by the end of this year and have it operating very early into 2024. The intention prior to the mine fire was to have the two longwalls operating at the mine, and we saw the second longwall behind the sealed area. We have to wait until we have permission to enter back into that area, Lucas, to see the status of the equipment and what we can do with it. So I would say the timing and the certainty of the second one is in question. The first one, the new longwall, certainly is on track to be installed. So I would say by the end of this year, we're certainly a one longwall mine. Next year, we're for sure one longwall mine with the potential for two, but we really don't know until we get back behind those seals, which is at best a couple of months away.

And maybe I'll follow up on the seaborne thermal. A couple of things for the additional terms. More higher ash tons at Wilpinjong and in the Wambo Open-Cut joint venture are doing extremely well. So volumes are up there. I've also noted pretty good reductions in costs for the next quarter. And again, I think it's Wambo Open-Cut production going up, with costs doing better as well as some additional Wilpinjong tons there.

Just another point I wanted to make on Shoal Creek was, even though we're looking at one longwall, it's in the L panels where we have started our development coal mining and the coal seams look very good. Very good conditions for us right there. So, we've talked about the output of the mine before, and I'm confident with the one longwall mine in the mining conditions we're in, there’s going to be no drop-off in production levels that we've had in the past. The L panel has some very, very good mining conditions from what we're seeing so far.

Very helpful color on both fronts. Thank you for that. And then a quick follow-up on the JV—I looked at the cash flow statement for the quarter and contributions to JV were roughly equal to distributions from the JV. Is that only Middlemount, or does that also include Wambo? And if it is Middlemount, do we expect maybe additional cash to come in from that side? I'd appreciate your perspective and clarification on that point.

Yes, Lucas, it is only Middlemount there. So not a lot of cash flow from Middlemount currently. I'd expect the results to be similar in the second half of the year as well, certainly not what we saw last year.

Thank you.

Our next question will come from Nathan Martin with The Benchmark Company. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions.

Good morning, Nathan.

Maybe I'll just start on North Goonyella. I appreciate the update in the release; could we maybe get a refresher on the expected spending and timing of that spending on the project as you guys move towards anticipated longwall production in 2026? And what are some of the regulatory hurdles you expect?

Yes, Nathan, we have it in two tranches of spending as we've discussed in the past. The first one is $140 million, which we're spending a lot of this year and early next year. The major regulatory hurdle we have to overcome to get approval is permission to reenter the Zone B area which is the sealed area. At the combination of degassing that area and the ventilation of that area, we expect to be able to reenter Zone B sometime in September. That is the major regulatory hurdle we have to get through. After we can reenter Zone B and get a good assessment of the situation there, we need to go back to our board and get the approval to spend the remaining $230 million to $240 million. That would get us into full longwall production there early in 2026. So, again, I'd like to reiterate that the major regulatory hurdle to overcome is the permission to reenter Zone B, which we're looking for to come sometime in September of this year.

Great, Jim. Appreciate that refresher there. And then maybe just shifting gears over to the domestic thermal side of the house. You did update your guidance there. You talked about some of the conversations you're having with utility customers. Do you believe at this point that your guidance fully incorporates potential domestic thermal deferrals, or are you still having ongoing conversations and negotiations?

Nate, we believe that fully encompasses all of the potential deferrals in the guidance we've shown there.

Got it, Jim. And also, in the past, you've been helpful in providing us an idea of where you guys are committed for 2024 in PRB and other thermal updates. Can you give us an update on what percentage of tons are committed there?

Yes, it's about 70% committed at midpoint and guidance. I’d say there hasn't been a specific change over the quarter. That was done on purpose given the fact that it's been a slow market, declining price market. We'll seek to see more coming through here in the next quarter as the market picks up. So again, it's 70% in the Illinois Basin, and probably about 85% in the PRB for next year.

Perfect. Appreciate the update there, Mark. And then maybe just one kind of bigger picture question for you, Jim, to wrap up. There are some M&A opportunities out there—a few met coal assets in Australia up for sale. I know you can't make specific comments regarding Peabody and M&A, but could you remind us how you think about and rank your potential purchases of maybe seaborne assets or thermal assets compared to the progress you're making on reopening North Goonyella?

Nate, what I would say is, in order of prioritization, organic growth—investing in our own assets, extending leases, investing in equipment to bring down costs, and increase efficiencies—always have the best returns for our shareholders, and that is our number one priority, as evidenced by North Goonyella. Secondly, if we do get into M&A—not saying we are or we aren’t—we've stated many times, and it hasn't changed, that our focus is on the seaborne markets; we see the seaborne markets as growth markets in demand in both metallurgical and thermal. We have much more focus on the metallurgical seaborne markets, but we would certainly look at both markets for potential growth in the future.

Great. Very helpful. I appreciate the time, guys. Best of luck in the second half.

Thanks so much.

Thank you, Nate.

Next question.

Our next question will come from Lucas Pipes with B Riley. Please go ahead on your follow-up.

Thank you very much for taking my follow-up question. It's a quick one. In terms of hedges on the thermal coal side, I may have missed it, but I didn't see a disclosure in the press release. So I wondered if you could remind us what's outstanding there. I know there was a cash collateral requirement in the past. As those hedges roll off, could there be cash coming back in the third quarter from that side? I'd appreciate just the discussion.

Yes, Lucas, the program has fully unwound as of June 30. So all the initial margin was returned, which was about $11 million in the second quarter. All the variation margin was returned with higher realized prices taken into our EBITDA results. So the program is fully unwound, and we no longer have hedges for coal sales.

That's very good to hear. That's it from me for now. I appreciate the color, and best of luck to you and to the team.

Thanks, Lucas.

And with that, there are no further questions. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Jim Grech for any additional closing remarks.

Thank you all for joining us today. I'd especially like to thank our employees for remaining focused on safety and for continuing to execute on our various initiatives. I'd also like to thank our customers, investors, insurance providers, and vendors for their continued support. Finally, I'd like to thank everyone in the Gillette community who responded during the tornado at NARM.

The conference is now concluded. Thank you very much for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines and have a wonderful day.