Companies: ATH ��

Coal miner ATH Resources is paying �25 million for cash-rich land regeneration and colliery spoil heap reclamation specialist Ogden.

Doncaster-based ATH, which produced 1.5 million tonnes of coal last year mostly from Scotland and made �5.7 million pre-tax, has agreed to pay �25.4 million for Ogden, another Doncaster-based concern, whose technology converts reclaimed coal waste into a saleable product suitable for electricity generators. The price to be paid by ATH to proprietor Sir Robert Ogden reflects �15.9 million of cash retained in Ogden, which made a �4.1 million operating profit in 2005 on �14.2 million turnover.

AIM-quoted ATH, run by chief executive Tom Allchurch, is funding the Ogden purchase with a �5.5 million two-year loan from Royal Bank of Scotland plus overdraft facilities extended by �2 million. The price includes a �1 million deferred payment, with �500,000 payable in six months and �500,000 in a year.

Allchurch says the deal brings ATH plant and equipment with a book value of �3.7 million but claims its replacement value is nearer �20 million. ATH argues Ogden is the only independent UK company which helps offers customers, whether colliery owners or Regional Development Authorities, additional revenue to offset the cost of land reclamation.

ATH, which recently agreed to supply another 500,000 tonnes of coal to Drax Power and 800,000 tonnes over two years to EON UK, has been winning favour with investors of late. The shares, recommended by Growth Company Investor a year ago at 175p, rose 18.5p this morning to 216p, within hail of last September's 222.5p peak.

They should have further to go, unless the recent sector correction turns into a market downturn.

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ATH Resources	AIM	�71.85m	181.00p	-3.00p
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