28th Aug 2018 10:46
LONDON (Alliance News) - Sylvania Platinum PLC on Tuesday declared a maiden dividend for its recently ended financial year as profit and revenue rose during the period.
The platinum group metals producer said it will pay a cash dividend of 0.35 pence per share for the year to the end of June, following shareholder approval at its annual general meeting in November.
Sylvania Platinum reported pretax profit of USD16.1 million, up from USD13.2 million the year before. Revenue rose to USD62.8 million from USD50.5 million, more than offsetting higher costs.
Sylvania's production from its Sylvania Dump Operations was 71,026 ounces of platinum group metals for the year, marginally higher than 70,869 ounces the year before, with an all-in sustaining cost of USD565 per ounce, up from USD442 the prior year.
At the end of its financial year, Sylvania bought back 2.3 million shares at a price of AUD0.1619 per share under a share buyback programme offered to non-UK shareholders.
At the close of the programme on Friday, the group purchased a total of 2.4 million shares for a total of AUD388,152 to be cancelled.
"Despite an increase in operating costs over the past financial year, Sylvania is still regarded as one of the lowest cost PGM producers in the world. For this I compliment management and the operations teams for not only keeping their heads above water during conditions often outside of their control, but also showing ingenuity and resilience in their ability to adjust management plans and take opportunistic decisions resulting in a solid operational performance," said Chief Executive Officer Terry McConnachie.
"I look forward to what 2019 has in store, as well as achieving our stated guidance of 76,000 to 78,000 ounces," McConnachie added.
Shares in Sylvania Platinum were up 8.7% at 21.95 pence on Tuesday.
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