26th Feb 2015 09:26
LONDON (Alliance News) - KAZ Minerals PLC on Thursday swung to a pretax loss in 2014 on the back of lower revenue as the Kazakhstan-focused copper miner was hit by lower copper prices.
The FTSE 250-listed miner said its pretax loss for the year was USD169 million, compared to a USD138 million profit a year earlier.
Revenue for the year fell to USD846 million from USD931 million, depressed by copper prices coming under pressure over the course of the year amid markets anticipating a supply surplus in the near-term. KAZ produced 83.5 kilotonnes of copper cathode in 2014, up from 76.8 kt a year earlier.
KAZ said it expects copper cathode production for its East Region and Bozymchak of 80-85 kilotonnes, but expects by-product grades to be temporarily lower in the East Region.
The company is not paying a dividend due to the financing needs of growth projects currently in the construction phase. The group said all of its major projects are currently on track.
"2014 was a year of transformational change for the Group. We successfully completed our Restructuring in October 2014 and this has repositioned KAZ Minerals on the global cost curve, retaining a portfolio of first and second quartile operating and development assets," said KAZ Chief Executive Officer Oleg Novachuk.
KAZ Minerals shares were down 0.2% to 254.40 pence on Thursday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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