Antofagasta full-year dividend at 54.7 cents per share
Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) on Tuesday confirmed a 6% rise in its net profit during 2020 as well as raising its dividend for 2020.
The mining giant’s net profit reached $893.9m, up from $843.1m in 2019. Lower costs and stronger prices more than offset a fall in copper production levels.
Antofagasta’s EBITDA increased by 12% to $2.74bn ahead of analysts’ expectations of $2.7bn.
The copper miner announced a final dividend of 48.5 cents per share, bringing the full-year number to 54.7 cents, and up from 50.9 cents in 2019.
Antofagasta also confirmed its copper production guidance of 730,000 metric tons to 760,000 metric tons for 2021 at a net cash cost of $1.25 a pound.
Copper and gold prices climbed about 25% last year, with copper currently trading near 10-year highs at around $9,100 a tonne on rebound in demand in top consumer China.
Iván Arriagada, chief executive at Antofagasta, commented on the company’s results:
“The year has been challenging, but we have successfully kept our people safe and healthy, achieved our production and exceeded our cost targets, and increased EBITDA by 12.3% to $2.7 billion, yielding a 53% EBITDA margin. I am proud of how everyone at Antofagasta has worked together and adjusted to overcome the year’s challenges,” Arriagada said.
“Our resilient operations performed well with high levels of throughput and our Cost and Competitiveness Programme delivered benefits of $197 million, nearly double the targeted amount. Our balance sheet strengthened even further.”
“Full year copper production was 733,900 tonnes and net cash costs were $1.14/lb, reflecting the company’s agility in changing operating conditions.”
“In 2021, we will continue to focus on our safety and operating performance, and we expect copper production to be 730-760,000 tonnes at a net cash cost of $1.25/lb as ore grades increase at Centinela Concentrates and our operating efficiency remains high.”
“We are delighted that 100% of our mining division’s electricity consumption in 2022 will be from renewable sources.”
FTSE 100 listed mining blue chip, Antofagasta, watched its shares rally during November trading, as the company announced that two of its projects would be committed to the Copper Mark.