Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) Q4 2023 Results Conference Call February 8, 2024 11:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Karla Kimrey - VP, IR
Jim Grech - President, CEO
Mark Spurbeck - CFO
Malcolm Roberts - CMO
Conference Call Participants
Chris LaFemina - Jefferies
Katja Jancic - BMO Capital Markets
Lucas Pipes - B. Riley Securities
Michael Dudas - Vertical Research Partners
Nathan Martin - Benchmark
Operator
Good morning, and welcome to the Peabody Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Karla Kimrey, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Karla Kimrey
Good morning, and thanks for joining Peabody's earnings call for the fourth quarter and full year of 2023. With me today are President and CEO, Jim Grech; CFO, Mark Spurbeck; and our Chief Marketing Officer, Malcolm Roberts.
Within the earnings release, you will 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.
Jim Grech
Thanks, Karla, and good morning, everyone. For the full year 2023, our operations performed as expected, delivering another year of strong results, allowing us to further enhance shareholder value. We prefunded our long-term mine closure and reclamation obligations and implemented a robust shareholder return plan, which resulted in reducing our shares outstanding by over 11%.
We also continued to strategically reinvest in our met portfolio through our Centurion development project, the pending acquisition of a large portion of the Wards Well reserved adjacent to the project and the purchase of the new longwall kits at our Shoal Creek and Metropolitan operations.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, we produced strong results despite a non-Peabody-related train development on the mainline in Australia that interrupted some deliveries in December. We continue to advance development of our Centurion premium hard coking coal project and successfully put the new longwall at Shoal Creek into production ahead of schedule. Given the March Mine fire at Shoal Creek, this was an incredible achievement that would not have been possible without the efforts of our dedicated employees working close coordination with MSHA.
Before I expand on the markets, I want to thank our global employees for their continued focus and commitment to working safely and efficiently. Coming off our annual global injury rate in company history last year, this year, we achieved our second best annual global injury rate and a record low injury rate in Australia for a calendar year.