Invesco S&P 500 UCITS ETF reaches $10 billion UAM

Ishen Patel
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Invesco S&P 500 UCITS ETF reaches $10 billion UAM

The Invesco S&P 500 UCITS ETF has reached $10 billion of assets under management, which has been revealed in an update on Wednesday.

This makes this fund the first of its kind which is listed in Europe to reach this milestone, which is a notable achievement for Invesco.

The market was told in today’s update that $500 million new assets had been raised in the first six weeks of 2020, and Invesco alluded this to strong, consistent demand derived from strong trends and performance in 2019.

The Invesco fund took in almost half of all net inflows into S&P 500 ETFs in 2019, accounting for US$3.4 billion of the total US$6.9 billion, and the landmark hit today shows a real victory for Invesco.

Strong growth was attributed to the relatively low cost of the fund, and its outperformance versus the index.

Doug Sharp, Senior Managing Director and Head of EMEA at Invesco, said: “Last year was a landmark for the European ETF industry as total assets hit the US$1 trillion mark. It was also a record year for our business with just under US$12 billion of net inflows, the third-highest total in Europe. We have seen solid demand for new and innovative products as well as for what you could call ‘core building blocks’ as investors are using ETFs to meet a variety of needs throughout their portfolios.

“The growth in our S&P 500 UCITS ETF, particularly over the past year, indicates that investors are also becoming more aware of the differences between ETFs and how, even for the largest and most liquid benchmarks on the planet, picking the right one can make a material difference in terms of performance.”

Markets and analysts have noted the stronger flows into the synthetic S&P 500 ETFs in 2019, following weaker demand for their physical counterpart.

Interestingly, Invesco also noted that investors are not only considering price when looking at a fund but also on which specific product offering suits the intended outcomes and goals they intend to reach.

The process of fund investing is now becoming more personalised, and individuals have the chance to really gauge with the holdings in order to deliver the greatest potential for the desired outcome.

Gary Buxton, Head of EMEA ETFs at Invesco, explains: “Investors wanting exposure to simple benchmarks generally look first at how much it is going to cost. Our range of portfolio building blocks have some of the lowest costs and best tracking in Europe for core benchmarks. For example, our S&P 500 UCITS ETF has a management fee of just 0.05% per annum and bid-offer spreads typically two to three basis points, meaning it has the lowest all-in cost of the largest competing products in Europe.

“When you are looking for passive exposure to US equities, however, there is more than just cost to consider. Our synthetic replication method enables us to capture all the dividends, gross of tax, on the index constituents. This gives it a clear structural advantage over physically replicating ETFs that must pay dividend withholding tax, which is measurable in terms of performance.”

The fund has seen a gradual rise to be a strong performer, and across 2019/20 it has outperformed its benchmark of 21.6% against the index value of 21%.

The Invesco S&P 500 UCITS ETF features an accumulating dividend treatment, and has an ongoing charge of 0.05% per annum.

This does give Invesco an edge over rival funds, as the S&P 500 is the most traded index in the globe. Within a saturated market, a couple of other alternatives are listed below.

iShares Core S&P 500 ETF

iShares offer another fund which tracks the S&P 500, and the details are noted.

This ETF is listed on the NYSE Arca, and has 505 holdings. It is currently priced at $338.26, which is significantly lower than the Invesco counterpart, and charges a 0.04% charge per annum which is again slightly lower than Invesco.

This ETF has net assets of $219 billion in total.

SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust

This product is priced at $337.42, and is listed on the NYSE Arca in similar fashion to the iShares Core S&P.

The current management fee is 0.09%, which is a considerable rise on both the Invesco and iShares counterpart. This ETF is passively managed, as are the other two products and deal directly on the exchange that they are listed on.

This ETF has total net assets of $307.85 billion, which is bigger than both the iShares and the Invesco funds that have been offered.

SkinBioTherapeutics agree psoriasis treatment deal with Winclove Probiotics BV

Ishen Patel
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SkinBioTherapeutics agree psoriasis treatment deal with Winclove Probiotics BV
SkinBioTherapeutics PLC (LON:SBTX) have agreed a deal with Winclove Probiotics BV for development of a product. The company said that its subsidiary AxisBiotix Ltd has signed a development agreement with Winclove Probiotics BV, which would involve the treatment of psoriasis. Maarten Pekelharing, CEO of Winclove, said: “We have developed business partnerships across the world and a key criteria for us is that our partners share our ambition to make a difference in people’s health and want to use their businesses as a force for good. “We are proud to begin a collaboration with SkinBioTherapeutics and feel privileged to work with such a renowned scientist as Prof. Catherine O’Neill. We are very excited to help SkinBioTherapeutics develop and bring to market together a new probiotic formulation for such an innovative scientific area as the gut-skin axis with the potential to enhance the quality of life for people with difficult to treat skin conditions like psoriasis.” SkinBioTherapeutics said that the companies had collaborated to help manage the symptoms of skin condition, psoriasis. Both firms will look to combine their knowledge and expertise to develop a probiotic blend of bacterial strains, based on the modifying properties of specific bacterial species on known psoriasis disease pathways. The blend will then be developed into a probiotic food supplement which will be named AxisBiotix. The life sciences and medicinal firm also said that it will take responsibility for the identification and selection of the bacterial strains and patient testing. Winclove, the other pattern will take control for the formation and manufacturing of AxisBiotix. Stuart Ashman, CEO of SkinBioTherapeutics, said: “There is strong scientific evidence pointing to a link between gut dysfunction, stress-induced alterations to the gut microbiome and skin inflammation. We believe that in this partnership with Winclove, which was initiated by our CSO, Prof. Cath O’Neill, we can create a specific probiotic food supplement that has the potential to help manage the hard-to-treat symptoms of psoriasis. “This agreement with Winclove represents the next phase of SkinBioTherapeutics’ strategy to develop new avenues of microbiome-based technology, this time focused on the gut-skin axis. It also represents the second phase of our strategic plan, following our recent agreement with Croda plc in the active skincare sector.”

SkinBioTherapeutics’ November blues

A few months back, the firm updated the market by reporting that its loss had widened. The widened loss for financial 2019 was caused by increased research and development spending, but the firm have reassured shareholders that there will be long term benefits. The firm focused on skin health said it will develop its core technology SkinBiotix, which has secured an extended agreement with Croda International PLC (LON: CRDA) for use in cosmetic applications. For the annual financial year ending June 30, the firm made a pretax loss of £1.4 billion widened from the £941,451 figure a year ago. Additionally, no revenue was generated in either financial period, which caused shares to crash. Research and development expenditure increased from £416,000 to £708,000 omprising development work with the University of Manchester, ongoing manufacture, scale-up and formulation work as well as the costs for the cosmetic human study. The update today from SkinBioTherapeutics does show good progress, and following the widened loss, shareholders will hope that results can turn into revenues for the firm. Shares in SkinBioTherapeutics trade at 11p (-11.00%). 19/2/20 11:00BST.

Hochschild Mining shares jump 7% on strong annual results

Ishen Patel
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Hochschild Mining shares jump 7% on strong annual results
Hochschild Mining Plc (LON:HOC) have seen their shares jump on the back of a strong set of annual results. The mining titan said that its’ profit doubled in 2019, as the firm looked to deliver further progress and developments. Hochschild Mining said that revenue spiked 7% to $755.7 million, compared to $704.3 million in 2018. The growth will certainly please shareholders at a time where the mining industry has seen mixed results. Notably, the FTSE 250 listed firm added that full year production was 477,400 ounces of gold equivalent, which smashed their initial guidance of 457,000 ounces. Going forward, the firm said that it was targeting production around 422,000 ounces across 2020. The firm attributed their strong production figures to record numbers at the Inmaculada mine in Peru and San Jose mine in Argentina. On the back of these strong results, Hochschild have lifted their final dividend to 2.335 US cents, which shows a 19% increase from 1.959 US cents a year ago. Ignacio Bustamante, Chief Executive Officer said: “In 2019, we have delivered some strong financial results which reflect another robust year of production including records at two of our operations and good cost control. Improved precious metals prices in the second half of the year combined with strong free cashflow generation saw us reduce leverage further and finish the year with net debt at $33 million. We have again discovered a significant amount of resource additions at Inmaculada and anticipate another year of ambitious exploration with exciting drill targets at all our current operations and projects throughout our entire southern Peru cluster. In addition, we can look forward to progressing our portfolio of greenfield opportunities and strategic alliances.”

Hochschild’s fourth quarter

Around a month ago, Hochschild released their fourth quarter results – where the firm noted a fall in production. The firm said that its gold production totaled 78,050 in the three month period, however this saw a dip of 4.1% compared to the 81,370 total which was reported in the third quarter. On a better note for shareholders, gold production figures were higher than a year ago where the fourth quarter figure in 208 was 73,100. This was driven by a “better than expected” performance from the Inmaculada mine in Cusco, Peru. Looking at silver production, fourth quarter production once again fell by 12% giving a total figure of 4.6 million ounces. In the third quarter, the figure delivered was 5.3 million and on a worse note, year on year silver output fell by over 20%. On an overall basis, 2019 production for gold was 570,500 gold equivalent ounces and 46.2 million silver equivalent ounces, both down 3.0% year-on-year. Despite the slip in the fourth quarter, Hochschild Mining have managed to see a very strong 2019. Shareholders should remain optimistic as the firm has set out clear expectations for the next year of trading. Shares in Hochschild Mining trade at 171p (+7.04%). 19/2/20 10:28BST.

Petrotal shares in green as oil reserves rise at end of 2019

Ishen Patel
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Petrotal shares in green as oil reserves rise at end of 2019
Petrotal Corp (LON:PTAL) have reported a rise in reserves at the end of 2019, in an update on Tuesday afternoon. The firm also told shareholders that it had started to drill the Bretana 6H oil well in Peru. Looking at the firms oil reserves, Petrotal said that they saw a rise of 20% at the end of 2019 to 21.5 million barrels of oil compared to the 17.9 million figure one year ago. Proved plus probable reserves also surged 21% which totaled 47.7 million barrels of oil compared to 39.4 million barrels of oil. Net present value, before tax, but with a 10% discount, was $434 million from proved reserves, showing a rise from $151 million at the end of 2018. For proved plus probable reserves, it more than doubled to $1.10billion from USD536 million. Manolo Zuninga, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Following the Company’s successful drilling campaign in 2019, we are very pleased to see a meaningful upgrade of reserves in the 1P and 2P categories. PetroTal is glad to see that NSAI’s 2P OOIP estimate now approximates our internal estimate. We are confident that future production data will substantiate the higher recovery factors, and in the end, all of the above serves to create value for our stakeholders. We look forward to achieving further growth in 2020, with new oil wells and increases in recovery factor, and I would like to sincerely thank our team, as well as our shareholders for their ongoing support of PetroTal.”

Petrotal invest into Peru

A few weeks back, Petrotal told shareholders that they are looking to expand their operations and production in Peru. The firm said that they will set aside a budget of $99 million for work across 2020, in order to expand their operations and tap into new resources. The firm alluded to their new capital program, saying that it will allow them to be a “free cash flowing company”. Petrotal hopes that this new injection of funds will allow the firm to achieve its production target of 20,000 barrels of oil per day from the Bretana oil field based in Peru by the end of 2020. The firm outlined its target production over 2020 of 13,500 barrels per day which would be a significant rise from the 2019 figure. Notably, fourth quarter average production was 7,757 per day and the new targets will certainly impress shareholders. Petrotal are in a very sound position right now, and the fact that the firm is looking to expand its operations should yield in results. Therefore shareholders and the firm should remain confident for what the future holds. Shares in Petrotal trade at 25p (+2.00%). 18/2/20 14:26BST.

Panther Metals file applications to operate in Canada

Ishen Patel
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Panther Metals file applications to operate in Canada
Panther Metals Plc (LON:PALM) have told the market that they have filed applications to operate in Canada. The mining firm expressed their intentions to file applications for four exploration permits covering the Big Bear gold project in Canada. The applications will cover the north, south, east and west of the project, the company said, and “supplement and append the existing exploration permit which is in place for the central part of the project over the Schreiber Pyramid gold occurrence and gold occurrences in the vicinity of Bear Lake”. Darren Hazelwood, CEO, commented: “The exploration permitting applications for the Big Bear Gold Project in Ontario, Canada, have been lodged to allow Panther to refine and test prospective gold and base metal targets outlined by both Panther and in historical exploration work. Successful permitting will allow Panther to undertake an inaugural core drilling programme of up to 20 diamond drill holes as well as associated bedrock trenching. We are also pleased to announce that a geophysical contractor visited site last week in order to plan the logistics for the drone-borne aerial magnetics survey we are scheduling to be flown in early Spring. We look forward to providing further details on this in due course.” Notably, the permit applications also make provision for tented camp sites associated with the drilling and trenching programmes and the storage of fuel. Panther noted that the central part of the project already has an exploration permit in place for the drilling and trenching of seven target areas coinciding with historical gold occurrences and more recent soil and rock chip sampling work, which means that the potential could be there for the firm. The applications will now go through a process of ‘governmental, First Nation community and local landowner, stakeholder review’ and Panther have said that they expect a decision to be made around April 5.

Panther Metals get green light on Annaburroo

A few days back, Panther Metals saw their shares surge over 50% as they received the go ahead on n exploration permit for its operations in Australia. The firm said that the exploration permit at the Annaburroo gold project in Australia had been granted, and it seems that this has caught shareholder optimism. The Annaburroo Gold Project comprises a single licence (EL32140) covering an area of 149.8km2, located 105km to the southeast of Darwin, Northern Territory. Grab samples at the asset have found gold grades of 61.2 grammes pet tonne and 50.8 grammes per tonne. Shares in Panther Metals trade at 4p (+11.94%). 18/2/20 14:09BST.

Kerry Group shares jump 5% as firm reports strong 2019

Ishen Patel
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Kerry Group shares jump 5% as firm reports strong 2019
Kerry Group PLC (LON:KYGA) have seen their shares jump on a pleasing update from the Irish foods business. The firm noted that both profits and revenues rose in 2019 which sparked shareholders optimism on Tuesday afternoon. Shares in Kerry Group PLC trade at €123 (+5.39%). 18/2/20 13:39BST. Kerry noted “Strong growth was achieved in the year, driven by good volume growth in Taste & Nutrition and the contribution from strategic acquisitions. Group reported revenue increased by 9.6% to €7.2 billion, reflecting volume growth of 2.8%, flat overall pricing, favourable translation currency impact of 2.1% and contribution from business acquisitions of 4.7%. Taste & Nutrition achieved good volume growth in the Americas, a solid performance in Europe and continued strong growth in APMEA. Consumer Foods delivered a solid underlying performance versus the market, offset by the impact of the ready meals contract exit previously announced.” Across 2019, the foods firm told the market that revenue was €7.24 billion, which saw a 9.6% rise from a year ago. Kerry alluded the strong growth to performance in Taste and Nutrition which was 4%, however consumer foods fell 2.2% due to a contract exit in ready meals. Shareholders would not have been surprised with this slip in consumer foods as the firm had already given a prewiring a little while back. Kerry’s pretax profit for the year was 4.5% higher at €645.9 million, with the figure before non-trading items 11% higher at €756.8 million. The firm told shareholders that they would be paying a final dividend of 55.1 euro cents per share, taking the year’s total to 78.6 cents, up 12% on the year before. Edmond Scanlon, Chief Executive Officer commented: “We are pleased with the business performance and the strategic development of the Group in 2019. Taste & Nutrition delivered good volume growth, particularly against the backdrop of softer market volumes in some developed markets. We also enhanced our trading profit margin and achieved growth in adjusted earnings per share of 8.3% in constant currency. Significant progress was made right across our strategic growth priorities of taste, nutrition, foodservice and developing markets. We successfully integrated a number of strategic acquisitions, expanded our strategic footprint in high growth developing markets, while further enhancing our industry-leading global integrated solutions portfolio.” Looking forward, Kerry said that they expect a 5% to 9% rise in adjusted earnings per share at constant currency, as the firm also factored in the current coronavirus epidemic which is still at large.

Resolute Mining report higher gold reserves at end of 2019

Ishen Patel
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Resolute Mining report higher gold reserves at end of 2019
Resolute Mining (LON:RSG) have seen a rise in their gold reserves at the end of 2019, which has left shares in green. The gold miner reported a year-end rise in gold reserves, as the planned sale of its Ravenswood mine goes ahead. Resolute told the market that total ore and mineral reserves climbed 15% year on year, rising from 16.6 million ounces of gold to 19.1 million ounces at the end of 2019. The CEO commented: “Resolute’s updated Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources Statement reflects our ability to significantly grow and improve the inventories we maintain at our long life, large scale gold mines, and at the same time demonstrates our commitment to growth by strategic value accretive acquisitions. We will continue to seek to create value by increasing the range and quality of our Mineral Resources by both successful exploration and prudent investment.”

Resolute Mining sell Ravenswood gold mine

In January, Resolute confirmed that they had sold their Ravenswood gold mine in Queensland. The sale was made to EMR Capital Management and Golden Energy and Resources (SGX:AUE). Resolute said EMR is a “leading” resources-focused private equity company with “outstanding” credentials. Resolute have said that they will receive AUD100 million in cash and notes for the initial sale of the mine. Subject to further terms of the deal, a further AUD200 million could be sent Resolute’s way dependent on gold production figures and gold prices. The sale of Ravenswood comes at no real surprise as the firm was conducting a strategic review of these operations, however Resolute did say that it hopes the mine will produce 200,000 ounces of gold for 15 years from 2022. The update today is not as significant as one may expect, however shareholder will be please nonetheless. There should be an optimistic tone for shareholders and the firm to carry fortunes across 2020 to produce a good run of results. Shares in Resolute Mining trade at 58p (+0.82%). 18/2/20 13:25BST.

Ocean Outdoor boasts ‘transformational year’ with 10.5% earnings growth

Jamie Gordon
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Ocean Outdoor boasts ‘transformational year’ with 10.5% earnings growth
Outdoor advertising company Ocean Outdoor (LON:OOUT) booked a strong full-year set of results during 2019, alongside a long list of acquisitions, in what proved to be a formative year for the business. Regarding its impressive performance, the company’s revenue jumped 13.5% year-on-year, up to £141.3 million. This led a 10.5% hike in its EBITDA, up from £30.4 million to £33.6 million. Ocean Outdoor also boasted that between its Ocean UK and Ocean NL operations, revenues were up 14.3% to £98.3 million, with EBITDA up 12.2% to £28.0 million. In terms of acquisitions, the company announced the acquisition of Dutch OOH companies Ngage Media and Interbest, for a combined cash consideration of £43.0 million. It continued, saying that it had added the international media and tech group Visual Art and Nasdaq First North listed company AdCityMedia, to its roster, for interests of £56 million and £25 million respectively. It went on to say that it had successfully secured extensions to its Piccadilly Lights and BFI IMAX contracts, and capped off its seemingly idyllic update by saying it had secured long-term contracts with Southampton and Glasgow City Councils, to provide “enhanced digital roadside city centre large format screens”.

Ocean Outdoor speaks on its successful year

Offering feedback on his company’s cheery update, CEO Tim Bleakley commented:

“In the last 12 months we completed five acquisitions and expanded our presence to seven countries, entering key strategic markets and creating a market leading DOOH offering in both the Netherlands and Sweden, where we are focussed on successfully implementing our Digital Cities for Digital Citizens philosophy. Our expanded geographical presence allows us to build a combination of premium digital assets and quality audience delivery networks across northern Europe that will meet the needs of both customers and advertisers.”

“Whilst we remain focused on expanding our network, creativity and innovation are also core to our growth and we continue to invest in new and engaging ways of using full motion DOOH to bring exclusives to audiences and a powerful broadcast platform for brands to exploit. Our recent Neuroscience based study and YouGov research has provided a greater, quantifiable understanding of the significant impact of the use of innovative content on full motion DOOH screens, underlining the value of our platform.”

“As we progress into 2020 we are excited to work alongside the team at AdCityMedia to fully integrate the latest addition into the Ocean Group and continue to develop our business in the UK and the rest of Europe.”

Investor notes

Following the update, the company’s shares have rallied 0.64% or 0.050p, to 7.90p per share 18/02/20 12:06 GMT. Ocean Outdoor currently has a p/e ratio of 0.46, and a market cap of $424.22 million.

What’s next for Sirius Minerals?

Ishen Patel
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What’s next for Sirius Minerals?
Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX) have been in talks with Anglo American over a potential takeover deal, and the firm has seen a busy few months of trading with shares crashing and surging. Shares in Sirius Minerals trade at 4p (-1.73%). 18/2/20 12:42BST. The last year has been busy for Sirius Minerals, and investors have tipped them to be one of the hottest prospects on the market. The firm however, have seen their shares become very volatile. Certainly the world volatile may not cut the changes that Sirius have seen over the last year. The firm has seen a 52 week change in share price of -74.72%, a dramatic fall which has included ebbs and flows from takeover talks with Anglo American (LON:AAL), a new financing plan and changes to their operations in Yorkshire. 52 week highs have been recorded at 8,389p whilst the 52 week low was seen at 2.1p. Such a change between the two figures reflects the shifting nature of the share price and the current changes that the firm is going through. Notably, the 50 day moving average is 5.098p which is slightly short of the 200 day moving average of 5.431p. Many are wondering, what is next for Sirius Minerals?

Anglo American – Sirius deal

At the start of 2020, it was reported that Anglo American were in advanced talks to acquire Sirius Minerals. This deal was supposedly given the green light, as Anglo said that they will offer 5.5p per shares for Sirius, which shows a 34% rise to the closing price of Sirius on Friday 17th January of 4.1p. Sirius Minerals itself said its directors consider the acquisition to be “fair and reasonable”, and have recommended that shareholders vote in approval of the offer. The offer is conditional on whether 75% of Sirius shareholders decide to vote in favor for the merger deal, which will be done at an upcoming court meeting. Anglo American have remained confident about the acquisition and have said that they expect this to be formally completed by the end of March. The share price offer values Sirius at £404.9 million, and is a deal which Anglo American will be thoroughly excited with. The chairman of Sirius did acknowledge that shareholders may not have been happy with the proposed merger deal, and at the time he commented saying: “We acknowledge that to many Shareholders our decision as a board to recommend this offer will have come as a shock. Your board deeply regrets that we could not deliver the complete stage two financing in 2019 despite a very broad and thorough process. Going into the strategic review the Sirius Board’s strong preference was a solution that allowed current Shareholders to participate as fully as possible in the future development of the Project. Following the strategic review process it is clear that no such options are currently available to us and in that context Anglo American’s offer is the only feasible option.”

The future for Sirius Minerals

It is important to remember that the deal is yet to get clearance, and the court procedures are still set to be debated between the parties involved. Shareholders do not seem pleased with the deal that has been struck between Sirius and Anglo American. However, some optimism has to remain within the firm. Anglo American are a mining titan, and certainly will be able to heavily invest into the operations and procedures of Sirius Minerals. Sirius Minerals had to find a finance option from somewhere – the firm did run into problems when financing their Yorkshire potash project and it seems that the deal was a case of ‘need’ rather than ‘want’. The firm did announce a new strategy last November, which involved less upfront capital with the hope that the Sirius could move onto the second phase in the near future. Sirius looked to have the right procedures and plans in order to commercialize their Potash project. Most small mining companies do not make as much progress before they are taken out a large discount to the supposed value of the project. The deal with Anglo American is subject to clearance, and shareholders will be keen to voice their opinion. However, it is important to remember that at a time where Sirius Minerals needed a bigger partner to help finance their ongoing operations, Anglo American did answer that call. If the deal goes through, there will be an initial feeling of pessimism. However – with the backing of Anglo American, there is much hope for Sirius Minerals and shareholders should fully evaluate both the costs and benefits before making their opinions heard when the deal is being considered by all stakeholders involved. On January 14, Berenberg reiterated a stance of ‘Hold’ for Sirius Minerals. This followed two ‘Buy” stances on the 11th and 12th November issued by Liberum Capital.

Pan African Resources’ profit rises despite ‘challenges’ in financial year

Ishen Patel
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0
Pan African Resources’ profit rises despite ‘challenges’ in financial year
Pan African Resources plc (LON:PAF) have seen progress in the first half of their financial year in an update on Tuesday. The firm did admit that it had faced ‘challenges’ so far in its financial year – however performance had improved as growth was sustained. CEO Cobus Loots commented: “Our business strategy of delivering safe, sustainable and high-margin gold production has yielded improved operational, financial and safety results for the six months ended 31 December 2019. In the current reporting period, our team delivered a robust operational performance, with gold sales volumes increasing by 13.6% to 90,602oz. Despite the increase in the Group’s overall AISC for the current reporting period, all-in sustaining costs (“AISC”), at our tailings businesses operated at exceptional margins, with Elikhulu producing at an AISC of USD708/oz and our Barberton Tailings Retreatment Plant reporting an AISC of USD643/oz. We are pleased to maintain our previous guidance of gold production of 185,000oz, at an AISC below USD1,000/oz, for the full 2020 financial year.” The gold miner said that pretax profit had surged to $27.2 million in the six month period which ended on December 31. This showed a great appreciation from one year ago, where Pan African reported a figure of $12 million. Notably, revenues also climbed from $97.5 million to $132.7 million which shareholders will be pleased with. Pan African noted that the South African operating environment remained challenging, as the firm alluded to issues such as electricity availability, illegal mining, community protests and disruptions, escalating costs and regulatory uncertainty. Looking at volumes of gold production, this was rather pleasing for the firm and its respective shareholders. Gold production increased by 15% from 81,014 ounces a year ago to 92,941 ounces, which drove gold sales for the period by 14% to 90,602 ounces. The mining firm alluded to the rising price of gold, saying that across the period gold prices rose 20% to $1,464 per ounce from $1,222 per ounce a year earlier. Loots concluded by saying: “Despite some of challenges, including electricity supply constraints and illegal mining, Pan African Resources has demonstrated the ability to operate successfully in South Africa. We will continue to use our experience and resources to improve the lives of all our stakeholders and grow shareholder value. Management’s key focus for the remainder of the 2020 financial year includes further improving the safety performance, delivering on production guidance, reducing operational costs, managing cash flow generation and strengthening the Group’s financial position by reducing senior debt.”

Pan African build from July update

The update from the gold miner today shows positive growth from the update which the firm gave in July. The Company told investors that gold production from its continuing mining operations spiked 54.1% to 172,442oz and said production from its continued and discontinued operations was up by 7.5%. Its largest operation, Baberton Mines, saw production rise 9.6% to 99,636oz of gold, while Evander mines’ volumes grew from 21,250oz to 26,878oz year on year. Its Elikhulu tailings retreatment plant operation produced 46,201oz of gold, which exclude pre-production gold volumes of 736oz. Pan African Resources added that the plant processed 10.85 million tonnes from the period between September 2018 and June 2019. Shares in Pan African Resources trade at 12p (+1.73%). 18/2/20 12:33BST.
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