Antofagasta's H1 profit pops on higher copper production, lower costs

[Many copper bobbins, warehouse copper pipes.]
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Chilean copper miner Antofagasta (OTC:ANFGF [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/ANFGF]) reported Thursday that H1 profit [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4485225-antofagasta-reports-h1-results] and earnings rose, driven by an 11% Y/Y increase in copper production and lower cash costs.

H1 revenues surged 29% Y/Y to $3.8B, pre-tax profit jumped to $1.16B from $712.6M in the year-earlier period, EBITDA surged 60% to $2.23B from $1.39B last year, and EBITDA margin increased 12 percentage points to 58.8%.

Results were driven by an 11% Y/Y increase in copper production to 314,900 metric tons and a 36% jump in gold output to 91,200 oz, and lower cash costs; H1 copper sales climbed 17% and gold sales increased 53%, with higher prices for the two commodities supporting earnings growth.

The company backed its full-year targets, saying it continues to expect copper production of 660K-700K metric tons of copper, adding that its copper growth program remains on track as it targets more than 30% growth in output over the medium-term.

Antofagasta (OTC:ANFGF [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/ANFGF]) "produced a remarkably clean set of results," RBC Capital analysts said, noting the company expects capital spending to rise sharply in H2, totaling $3.9B for the full year from $2.7B in 2024, due to works on its Centinela concentrator.

The company also announced a dividend of 16.6 cents/share, up from an interim dividend of 7.9 cents/share last year.

MORE ON ANTOFAGASTA

* Antofagasta: Robust Prospects For Long-Term Dividend Investors [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4800010-antofagasta-robust-prospects-long-term-dividend-investors]
* Antofagasta: Depends On Your View On Copper [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4764751-antofagasta-depends-on-your-view-on-copper]
* Financial information for Antofagasta [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/ANFGF/income-statement]