Antofagasta reported record full-year revenues on the back of the ramp up at its flagship Esperanza mine, but its shares failed to make any headway after its special dividend was cut by 75 per cent as the Chilean miner set cash aside to fund "a new phase of growth".
The mood of investors wouldn't have been helped by the abrupt departure of chief executive Marcelo Awad a week earlier. Senor Awad was forced to shoulder the blame for reported delays in the ramp up at Esperanza, and his duties have temporarily been assigned to chairman Jean-Paul Luksic, whose family controls the company.
However, these issues should not detract from what was an impressive operational performance underpinning a 32 per cent hike in full-year cash profits to $3.66bn (£2.33bn). Copper output rose 23 per cent to 640,500 tonnes and gold production was up fivefold to 196,800 ounces, albeit both fell short of initial guidance. Excluding by-product credits, average cash costs rose by 13 per cent to 155¢ a pound, while the group's average realised copper price was 373¢ a pound.
Current guidance is for copper and gold production to increase by 9 per cent and 42 per cent respectively this year, although management remains wary of short-term price volatility.
Prior to these figures, Fox Davies anticipated 2012 EPS of 147¢ (125¢ in 2011).
| ANTOFAGASTA (ANTO) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 1,222p | MARKET VALUE: | £12bn | |
| TOUCH: | 1,221-1,223p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,499p | LOW: 864p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1% | PE RATIO: | 15 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 629¢ | NET CASH: | $1.14bn | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover ($bn) | Pre-tax profit ($bn) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 3.83 | 2.75 | 140 | 8.6 |
| 2008 | 3.37 | 2.61 | 173 | 9.0 |
| 2009 | 2.96 | 1.44 | 68 | 9.4 |
| 2010 | 4.58 | 2.57 | 107 | 16.0* |
| 2011 | 6.08 | 3.08 | 125 | 20.0* |
| % change | +33 | +20 | +17 | +25 |
Ex-div: 9 May Payment: 14 Jun £1=$1.57 *Excludes special dividend payments of 24¢ a share in 2011 and 100¢ a share in 2010 | ||||
