Warrior Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.08 per Share, Sets Payment Date
Key Facts
Warrior Met Coal’s board of directors declared an ordinary quarterly cash dividend of $0.08 per share on October 27, payable on November 13 to shareholders of record at the close of business on November 6. The announcement corrects the previous draft’s account of a special dividend of $2.00 per share: the statement carried by Nasdaq describes it as an ordinary quarterly dividend and does not say it is a one-time payment or a return of excess capital. The published statement did not link the dividend to second-quarter results or describe it as special. The company’s shares, listed under the ticker HCC, closed at $83.43 on October 28, according to EL7 data. The announcement comes ahead of the company’s scheduled third-quarter results in early November.
Second-quarter results provide background on the company’s financial performance before the announcement. It reported net income of $87.4 million, or $1.65 per diluted share, compared with net income of $5.6 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, in the same quarter of 2025. Adjusted EBITDA was $156.9 million, up 193% year over year from $53.6 million. The company said the increase reflected Blue Creek mine’s continued growing contribution to profitability and improved steelmaking coal prices. The figures show year-over-year improvement in second-quarter results, but do not change the description of the dividend announced in October as an ordinary quarterly payment. The dividend statement did not attribute the board’s decision to those results or to a specific level of earnings.
Free cash flow was $103.4 million in the second quarter of 2026, compared with negative cash flow of $56.7 million in the same quarter of 2025. The company attributed the improvement to higher operating cash flow and lower capital spending after completion of the Blue Creek mine’s construction phase. Total liquidity was $452.9 million on June 30, including $302.3 million in cash and cash equivalents. These figures provide financial context from before the announcement, but the company did not link free cash flow or liquidity to the dividend declared on October 27 or describe it as a special dividend funded by excess cash. The distinction between the liquidity metrics reported in the second-quarter results and the nature of the dividend announced later remains fundamental.
On production and sales, Warrior raised its 2026 coal sales guidance by 0.5 million short tons, to a range of 13.0 million to 14.0 million short tons. The company said the increase followed continued positive reception and customer acceptance of Blue Creek shipments. It also said in August that the mine’s contribution to results was growing and that improved steelmaking coal prices supported second-quarter performance. The chief executive added that Chinese import demand supported seaborne prices and that long-term growth in steel production in India was a positive demand driver. These comments provide context on market developments cited by the company, without offering a direct explanation for the decision to distribute $0.08 per share.
The company previously declared a special dividend of about $4.41 per share in 2019, totaling $230 million and funded from available cash. Its capital allocation policy, published in 2022, also states that excess cash may be returned to shareholders through a special dividend or a share repurchase program, subject to the board’s discretion and market, performance and investment-opportunity factors. That background differs from the current October announcement, which the statement described as an ordinary quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share. The company’s 2026 press release page also lists ordinary quarterly dividend announcements in February, April and July, alongside other announcements, and does not list an announcement of a $2.00 special dividend during the year on the page reviewed. The company set November 4 as the date for its third-quarter results and will hold an investor call at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time; this is its next announced update for investors on performance.