27th Aug 2019 08:34
(Alliance News) - Polymetal International PLC said on Tuesday an increase in production drove revenue growth in the first half of 2019, though currency exchange losses hurt earnings.
Revenue in the six months to June 30 rose 20% to USD946.0 million, with gold equivalent production rising 22% year-on-year to 756,000 ounces gold sales by 36% to 604,000 ounces.
The miner said gold production was helped by the Kyzyl project in Russia delivering at full capacity, producing 160,000 ounces of gold during the period.
Silver sales were down 15% to 10.3 million ounces, and silver production fell 13% to 11 million ounces.
Average realised prices were mixed, with gold rising 1.4% to USD1,332 per ounce but silver down 7.3% to USD15.2 per ounce from USD16.4.
There was also a fall in first half net earnings, by 13%, to USD153.0 million which the company attributed to a USD24.0 million in foreign exchange loss compared with a USD2.0 million gain last year. Pretax profit stayed flat at USD210.0 million.
Underlying net earnings, which does not include the impact of one-off costs, grew 21% to USD188.0 million.
Polymetal proposed an 18% interim dividend rise to USD0.20 per share. In the year to date, it has declared dividends totalling USD0.31 per share, up 3% from USD0.30 over the same period in 2018.
The firm is on track to meet full year production guidance of 1.6 million ounces of gold equivalent, broadly flat year-on-year.
Chief Executive Vitaly Nesis said: "Our strong earnings during the period reflect solid operational delivery, and most notably excellent results from Kyzyl. Traditionally, we expect seasonally lower costs, higher production and materially stronger cash flow generation in the second half of the year, allowing us to meet our full year cost and production guidance."
Shares in Polymetal were 2.8% higher at 1,147.50 pence each early on Tuesday morning in London.
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