I am pleased to report to shareholders that a strong performance by Black Wattle, our South African coal mining subsidiary, in the second half of the year has resulted in the group recouping most of the losses incurred in the first half. Although the group reported a small trading loss before exchange losses and tax of £235,000 for the year, it generated a trading profi t of £1.5million in the second half of the year.

A number of important events have taken place in the second half which have accelerated the turnaround at Black Wattle. Key among these were the opening of a third opencast pit early in the second half and selling some of our coal into markets that require a lower quality product.

As a result of the opening of the third opencast pit, the mine’s monthly production in the second half of the year increased to an average of 135,000 metric tonnes. This compares favourably with the average monthly production of 110,000 metric tonnes achieved in the fi rst half of the year. A further increase in the mine’s monthly production is scheduled to impact in 2012.