17th Feb 2026 10:20
(Alliance News) - Antofagasta PLC on Tuesday said its major construction projects at the Centinela and Los Pelambres mines continue to be on time and on budget, as it reported annual profit growth and declared a higher dividend.
The London-based miner operating in Chile said pretax profit climbed 53% to USD3.16 billion in 2025 from USD2.07 billion in 2024.
Revenue increased 30% to USD8.62 billion from USD6.61 billion, albeit a notch below Peel Hunt expectations of USD8.68 billion. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew 52% to a "record" USD5.20 billion from USD3.43 billion.
Operating profit from subsidiaries and share of total results from associates and joint ventures climbed 64% to USD3.43 billion in 2025 from USD2.08 billion in 2024. It was slightly below market consensus according to Peel Hunt of USD3.45 billion.
Antofagasta recommended a final dividend of 48.0 US cents per share for 2025, more than doubled from 23.5 cents a year ago. This brings the total payout for 2025 to 64.6 cents, more than doubled from 31.4 cents.
Copper production decreased 1.6% to 653,700 tonnes in 2025 from 664,000 tonnes in 2024. Antofagasta expects to produce between 650,000 and 700,000 tonnes of copper in 2026.
The company highlighted that its average realised copper price rose 18% to USD4.93 per pound in 2025 from USD4.18 in 2024.
"Copper's fundamental value continues to be demonstrated through sustained demand growth, driven by the global structural trends of energy security and electrification, which saw copper achieve record prices in 2025," Chief Executive Ivan Arriagada said.
Looking ahead, he said: "Our major construction projects at Centinela and Los Pelambres [in Chile] continue to be on time and on budget, having passed peak group-level capital expenditure in 2025 for our current projects in construction, putting us on track to deliver 30% growth in production over the medium term.
"With each key construction milestone completed, we are moving closer to realising our growth potential, derisking future production and lowering costs at Centinela."
Antofagasta shares were down 3.7% to 3,634.00 pence each on Tuesday morning in London. The wider FTSE 100 index was up 0.4%.
AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould said: "Antofagasta is a smaller and purer play on the copper price [than BHP Group Ltd] but has nearly doubled in value in the last year to reflect exposure to a red-hot commodity. In this context just presenting the market with in-line earnings, albeit at a record level, and reporting a slight drop in output is enough to see the shares lose some momentum."
Diversified miner BHP also reported annual results on Tuesday. It's shares were up 0.6% in London, having closed up 4.7% in Sydney.
By Tom Budszus, Alliance News slot editor
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