4th Aug 2020 11:10
(Alliance News) - Egyptian gold miner Centamin PLC on Tuesday raised its interim dividend as profit more than tripled on stronger gold sales, output and prices.
For the six months to the end of June, pretax profit was USD191.1 million, more than tripled from USD59.6 million the year before, on revenue that grew by 56% year-on-year to USD448.8 million from USD288.1 million.
This was due to a robust operational performance, with gold sales rising by 21% to 270,529 ounces, while the average realised gold price increased by 27% to USD1,657 per ounce from USD1,305.
Meanwhile, Centamin's gold production increased by 9% to 256,084 ounces from 234,096 ounces.
The group declared an interim dividend of 6.0 US cents per share, up 50% from 4.0 US cents per share the year before.
Looking ahead, Centamin has kept its annual guidance of between 510,000 to 525,000 ounces of gold, compared to 480,529 ounces reported in 2019.
"Over the first half of 2020, Centamin has successfully navigated the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic to deliver a strong operating and financial performance. This operational delivery has enabled us to benefit from the recent strength in the gold price. Combined with our disciplined cost management and unhedged, debt-free balance sheet, Centamin has generated meaningful free cash flow leading to a 50% increase in the interim dividend to 6 US cents per share," said Chief Executive Officer Martin Horgan.
"The life of asset review for the Sukari mine is underway and I look forward to updating you in the coming months as we continue to strengthen our management team, assess the business with the aim of building a significant and modern gold company, maximising sustainable returns for all of our stakeholders while focussing on our key strengths that have delivered the strong position we are in today," said Horgan added.
Shares in Centamin were up 0.2% at 207.97 pence on Tuesday in London.
By Dayo Laniyan; [email protected]
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