19th Mar 2026 12:26
(Alliance News) - Central Asia Metals PLC on Thursday announced that it swung to a full-year loss, despite rising revenue, as it shortened the expected lifespan of one of its mines.
The London-based mining firm focused on Kazakhstan and North Macedonia, which completed the sale of its 76% stake in Copper Bay in March 2025, reported revenue from continuing operations of USD229.9 million in 2025. This represents a 7.2% rise from USD214.4 million for the previous year.
Despite the top-line growth, Central Asia Metals swung to a pretax loss of USD58.5 million from a USD77.2 million profit in 2024. This was due to a USD117.8 million impairment charge from a review of its Sasa zinc-lead mine in North Macedonia, which saw the expected life-of-mine shortened by five years to 2034.
The mining firm recommended a 7.5 pence final dividend, 17% lower from the previous year's 9p and bringing the full-year total to 12p, down 33% from 2024's 18p per share.
Central Asia Metals shares were down 5.5% to 160.20 pence each on Thursday morning in London.
The company also recorded underlying attributable profit of USD32.6 million, down 36% on-year from USD51.4 million.
Looking ahead, Central Asia Metals expects to produce between 12,000 and 13,000 tonnes of copper, 18,000 to 20,000 tonnes of zinc-in-concentrate, and 26,000 to 28,000 tonnes of lead-in-concentrate.
It produced 13,311 tonnes of copper, 17,881 tonnes of zinc-in-concentrate, and 25,156 tonnes of lead-in-concentrate in 2025.
It also expects capital expenditure to reach between USD14.5 million and USD17.5 million this year, down from USD19.0 million in 2025.
The company further noted its recent completion of a USD10.0 million buyback programme, started in the second half of 2025.
Chief Executive Officer Gavin Ferrar said: "2025 was a year in which we have sought to reset important elements of our business.
"These include improving productivity and efficiency at Sasa, along with prioritising exploration drilling at the operation, and, importantly, a redoubling of our efforts to secure a material transaction through which to grow."
"I look forward to 2026 to see the fruits of these efforts, and to the drilling programmes planned at our group exploration projects in Kazakhstan and via our associate, Aberdeen Minerals, in Scotland, both of which have the potential to yield exciting results," he added.
By Martin Miraglia, Alliance News reporter
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