Peabody Energy Chairman and CEO Highlights Strong Safety, Financial and Environmental Performance at Annual Shareholders Meeting

ST. LOUIS, May 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Peabody Energy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gregory H. Boyce today highlighted record safety, record revenues and the second-best earnings in history at the company's 2011 annual shareholders meeting.

In 2010 the company achieved a new global safety record of 2.69 incidents per 200,000 hours worked and a new Australian safety record while operating the safest large U.S. surface mine.  Peabody's U.S. incidence rate is approximately half the industry average.  And the company delivered a 29 percent safety improvement during the first quarter.  The outstanding results were accentuated by more than 30 awards for industry leadership, including corporate and social responsibility during the year.

"Peabody is the only global pure play coal investment and a global leader in clean coal solutions," said Boyce.  "We added more than $5 billion in shareholder value this past year and remain focused on serving the world's largest and fastest-growing markets."    

Peabody delivered significant increases in year-over-year financial metrics including revenues, operating profit, EBITDA and earnings per share.  BTU's share price has appreciated 876 percent since the company's initial public offering in May 2001, far outpacing the Standard & Poor's 500 Index that ended the period with a 4 percent decline.  

Looking ahead, Peabody continues to target several key initiatives in 2011:

• Capturing value from upward coal price movements with the company's significant open sales position;
• Expanding six major Australian metallurgical and thermal export mines;
• Advancing emerging growth projects and commercial transactions in China, Mongolia, Indonesia and India;
• Leveraging the company's leadership in the three primary growth avenues for the United States:  the Powder River Basin, Illinois Basin and U.S. exports; and
• Maintaining the company's intensity for excellence in our core areas of safety, operations, portfolio management, trading and brokerage and social responsibility.

Boyce observed that the world will need to add the equivalent of four times current U.S. generating capacity in the next quarter century, driven by nations such as China, India and Indonesia that are rapidly industrializing, modernizing and urbanizing.

"These enormous needs point to the early stages of what will be a long-lived super-cycle for coal and energy," said Boyce. "Billions around the world need sustainable solutions for energy access, and coal is the answer."

Peabody's vision is to alleviate energy poverty and energy inequality by 2050.  Boyce noted that the Peabody Plan advances a path to expand energy access, strengthen economies and drive environmental improvement through broad deployment of green coal technologies.

Near-zero emissions projects are being advanced around the world, and there are 80 large-scale carbon capture projects under way.  Peabody is advancing more than a dozen green coal projects and partnerships in the United States, China and Australia and committing hundreds of millions of dollars in investments.

Globally, Peabody continues to demonstrate industry leadership, in 2010 ranking among the BusinessWeek 50 list of best large U.S. companies and achieving Coaltrans honors as the world's leading coal company for the past 30 years.  The company earned a dozen awards for environmental excellence including multiple honors for directing the first coal mine reclamation project in Mongolia. Peabody also is being honored by the U.S. Foreign Policy Association for international corporate and social responsibility and was recognized with a Communitas Award for ethical and environmental responsibility.  

Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) is the world's largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in clean coal solutions.  With 2010 sales of 246 million tons and nearly $7 billion in revenues, Peabody fuels 10 percent of U.S. power and 2 percent of worldwide electricity.

CONTACT:
Beth Sutton
(928) 699-8243

SOURCE Peabody Energy