MELBOURNE, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Australian coal miner New Hope Corp NHC.AX , which has a war chest for potential acquisitions, said it expects coal mine deals to pick up over the next year as buyers' and sellers' views on the outlook for the battered sector start to converge.
New Hope, with more than A$1 billion ($713 million) available for acquisitions, is looking to snap up good quality operating energy coal and steel-making coal mines in Australia and western Canada.
It is in a strong position after reporting a 25 percent rise in profit to A$51.7 million before one-offs for the year to July 2015, as cost cuts outweighed a drop in sales with energy coal prices slumping to more than six-year lows.
The result matched a forecast from broker Morgans.
In contrast to its rival Whitehaven Coal WHC.AX , which paid no dividend, New Hope raised its final dividend by 25 percent to 2.5 Australian cents a share and announced a 3.5 cents a share special dividend.
Managing Director Shane Stephan said different coal producers' outlooks were starting to shift, leading to more overlapping views on coal asset valuations.
"So I think that the potential for transactions to occur over the next six to 12 months is greater than what it has been over the previous 12 months," he told Reuters in an interview.
New Hope has been reported to be looking at Rio Tinto's RIO.AX RIO.L assets in the state of New South Wales, vying with Glencore (LONDON:GLEN) Plc and former Xstrata boss Mick Davis' X2 Resources, among others. Stephan declined to comment on that auction or any others.
Anglo American AAL.L is looking to sell stakes in four Australian mines.
"There are certainly a significant number of potential opportunities evolving over the next 12 months or so," he said.
While environmentalists see coal in decline, Stephan contrasted flat demand in Europe and falling demand in North America with growth forecasts for Asia over the next 15 to 20 years, as coal delivered to north Asia costs half the price of gas per unit of energy.
"Over that period of time there will be a very strong future for good quality thermal coal into Asia," he said.
But he sees no demand for any new energy coal mines in Australia for at least five years.
New Hope expects its output in 2016 to be flat at around 5.7 million tonnes. ($1 = 1.4017 Australian dollars)