Centamin PLC on Thursday announced an increased interim dividend and backed its full-year guidance for gold production.
Shares in Centamin traded 6.0% lower at 121.60 pence in London on Thursday afternoon.
The operator of the Sukari gold mine in Egypt said that for the first half of 2024, gold production rose 1.9% annually to 224,738 ounces from 220,562 ounces.
Pretax profit was $117.1 million, up 2.0% from $114.8 million, but basic earnings per share fell 9% to $7.19 from $7.86. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was $210.7 million, up 9.3% from $192.9 million.
Revenue increased 8.5% to $465.1 million from $425.6 million. However gold sales decreased 4.6% to 209,269 ounces from 219,354
ounces.
Centamin declared an interim dividend of 2.25 US cents per share, ‘exceeding the minimum policy of distributing 30% of cash flow available for dividends’, up from 2.0 cents.
Looking ahead, Centamin maintained its full-year guidance including between 470,000 and 500,000 ounces of gold produced per year. It expects this to be weighted towards the second half, and to mark an increase from the 450,058 ounces produced in 2023.
‘Our focus on operating performance has enabled us to take advantage of stronger gold prices to deliver improved Ebitda and a significant increase in free cash flow,’ commented Chief Executive Officer Martin Horgan. ‘Looking ahead to H2 2024, the commencement of the grid connection project will build on our recent success in taking costs out of the business, with commissioning due in H1 2025.
‘At the same time, we are advancing the organic growth opportunities within our portfolio. The completion of the [definitive feasibility study] at Doropo shows a very robust project; we are now well positioned to apply for a mining licence which we expect should be granted by the end of 2024, ahead of a final investment decision.’
Last week, Centamin released a definitive feasibility study for the Doropo gold project in Ivory Coast, saying it demonstrates a ‘robust project’ that meets its investment criteria. The DFS estimated probable mineral reserves of 1.88 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 1.53 grammes of gold per tonne of ore. This supports a 10-year life of mine, Centamin said, with average annual gold production of 167,000 ounces.
CEO Horgan added: ‘Meanwhile, we are aggressively following up on the recent success at our Eastern Desert exploration project with the continued drill out of the Little Sukari discovery.’
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