Centamin (CEY) announced at the start of October its expected production for 2020 would drop by around 50,000 ounces (oz) because an unstable section of the Sukari mine openpit had to be avoided. This is worth around $96m (£75m) at Wednesday’s gold price of $1,913/oz.
Centamin’s share price fell by a quarter on the news, and has stayed at this level. The gold in the pit zone that had seen “movement in a localised area” is not going anywhere, and the company said it was looking at ways to stabilise the rock so it can be mined.
Guidance has been dropped to around 445,000oz for the year, down from 510,000-525,000oz. The company said mining from the unstable high-grade area would be replaced with stockpile ore, which contains much less gold.
Chairman James Rutherford seems confident the company - which has had major operational issues in the past – will get beyond this, buying 100,000 shares after the guidance cut, at 152p apiece. So does finance chief Ross Jerrard, who bought 15,000 shares at 148p. Mr Rutherford – also an Anglo American (AAL) and Anglo Pacific Group (APF) director – is in his first year in the top board seat, after taking over from Josef El-Raghy in January, who ran the company for almost 20 years.
The company has said many times it has turned a corner since its issues of 2017-18, when guidance was regularly cut and pit grades were highly variable. Sukari is both an underground and open-pit mine, with the majority of production coming from the pit. Centamin – also under a new chief executive, who started during the pandemic – is currently running a life of mine review for the Egyptian asset, which should give investors a clearer picture of what has gone wrong in the past and where the mine is going.
| Buys | |||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
| Ninety One | Hendrik du Toit/Kim McFarland | 30 Sep 20 | 203.11 | 573,098 | Purchased by PCA |
| Centamin | James Rutherford | 5 Oct 20 | 151.68 | 151,680 | |
| Micro Focus International | Sander Van 't Noordende | 2 Oct 20 | 248.77 | 111,865 | Converted from US$, American Depositary Shares |
| Midwich | Stephen Fenby | 5 Oct 20 | 320 | 80,000 | |
| Georgia Capital | Kim Bradley | 30 Sep 20 | 365 | 54,813 | Converted from US$ |
| Amigo Holdings | Gary Jennison (ceo) | 1 Oct 20 | 9.55 | 47,750 | |
| Playtech | Anna Massion | 2 Oct 20 | 355.27 | 42,633 | Converted from US$ |
| Topps Tiles | Darren Shapland | 1 Oct 20 | 49.5 | 29,700 | Purchased by PCA |
| Rotala | Bob Dunn | 5 Oct 20 | 25 | 27,500 | |
| Diversified Gas & Oil | David Johnson | 5 Oct 20 | 105 | 26,249 | |
| Topps Tiles | Robert Parker (ceo) | 2 Oct 20 | 48 | 24,000 | |
| Midwich | Andrew Herbert | 6 Oct 20 | 320 | 22,400 | Purchased by PCA |
| Go-Ahead Group | Elodie Brian (cfo) | 2 Oct 20 | 585 | 19,893 | |
| FirstGroup | David Martin (ch) | 30 Sep 20 | 38.2 | 19,100 | Purchased by PCA |
| Sells | |||||
| Company | Director/PDMR | Date | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
| Pets at Home | Louise Stonier | 29 Sep 20 | 406.2 | 32,213 | |
| Pets at Home | Louise Stonier | 29 Sep 20 | 402.2 | 31,915 | Sold by PCA |
