Central Asia Metals reported EBITDA of US$16.0 million for H1 2015 against US$21.8 million for the corresponding period of 2014. The decline is attributed to the fall in the average copper price received (US$$5,936/t compared with US$7,049/t a year earlier. Because of this, and despite an increase in copper sales, gross revenue fell 10% to US$30.3 million.
Group profit after tax was US$6.0 million for the six month period, a significant decline from H1 2014 when profit amounted to US$47.2 million, although the previous period results were impacted by a one-off gain of US$33.0 million arising from the completion of the Kounrad Transaction in May 2014. EPS for H1 2015 was USc5.37, which compares with an adjusted USc15.31 a year earlier.
During the first six months of 2015, copper production increased by 7%, to 5,444 t, principally as a result of the completion of the Stage 1 expansion project, which resulted in higher solution volume treatment rates during the winter months. Unit costs were US$0.74/lb copper, a marginal increase on H1 2014.
The company has reduced its production guidance for the year down from 13,000 t to 12,000 t as a result of an incident in June that resulted in a loss of copper in solution.
Central Asia has increased its ownership in Copper Bay Ltd, which has just completed a pre-feasibility study on a copper tailings treatment project in Chile, to 75% at a cost of US$3 million.
The company has declared an interim dividend of GBp4.5/share (2014: GBp5/share).
Central Asia Metals’ earnings reduced on lower copper price: CAML