Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call October 31, 2024 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Karla Kimrey - VP, IR
Jim Grech - President & CEO
Mark Spurbeck - CFO
Malcolm Roberts - Chief Marketing Officer

Conference Call Participants

Lucas Pipes - B. Riley Securities
Katja Jancic - BMO Capital Markets
Nathan Martin - The Benchmark Company
Chris LaFemina - Jefferies

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Peabody Energy Third Quarter 2024 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, Investor Relations and Communications. Please go ahead.

Karla Kimrey

Good morning, and thanks for joining Peabody's earnings call for the third quarter of 2024. 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. Thank you for taking the time to join us today and for your interest in Peabody.

In the third quarter, Peabody achieved solid performance across all segments, with notable results in both the seaborne thermal and U.S. thermal segments. We completed $100 million in share repurchases during the quarter, leaving our total repurchases for the year to $180 million. This is a reflection of our continued commitment to returning value to our shareholders.

Earlier this month, I hope you were able to participate in our Centurion presentation. If not, I encourage you to view it on our website. At Centurion, we continue to make significant progress towards starting the longwall production in the first quarter of 2026. Thus far, we have produced first development coal and commissioned 2 continuous mining units. The prep plant washed its first coal in September, and we have scheduled our first customer shipment for the fourth quarter.

As Centurion continues to exceed budgeted development rates, we've had to accelerate the CapEx spend roughly $30 million as a result of the rapid pace of development.

Now moving on to our operating segments. Overall, our third quarter operational results aligned with our forecast, and our mines continue to perform safely. Seaborne thermal demand continues to grow, and pricing remains stable.