Mining
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Thursday 23 Aug 2018
LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Australian mining and metals company South32's underlying earnings rose 16% in its last trading year, as strong demand for manganese and alumina products offset lower output from its Illawarra coal project.
South 32's underlying earnings jumped 15% to $1.33bn, printing just ahead of analysts' expectations of a $1.32bn reading.
Underlying operating earnings from the group's Worsley Alumina unit more than doubled to $422m despite a drop in production.
South32's manganese output rose 10% year-on-year and while that of coking coal fell, it beat estimates due to a ramp-up in production at the firm's Illawarra plant, where work had been put on hold in 2017 due to elevated gas levels at its Appin coal mine.
The dual-listed firm now expects 6.1m tonnes of production from the project in 2019 and a return to historical run rates of more than 8m tonnes per year by the second half of 2020.
South32 will pay a final dividend of 6.2 cents per share, a touch down from the 6.4 cents per share it paid out in 2017.
The group, which was once a part of mining giant BHP Billiton, expects production to climb by around 5% in fiscal 2019.
As of 1020 BST, South32 shares had picked up 4.36% to 196.30p.
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Currency | UK Pounds |
Share Price | 196.20p |
Change Today | 3.20p |
% Change | 1.66 % |
52 Week High | 218.00 |
52 Week Low | 143.60 |
Volume | 289,966 |
Shares Issued | 4,529.26m |
Market Cap | £8,886m |
Value |
---|
Price Trend |
---|
Income |
---|
Growth |
---|
Strong Buy | 3 |
Buy | 6 |
Neutral | 4 |
Sell | 0 |
Strong Sell | 0 |
Total | 13 |
Latest | Previous | |
---|---|---|
Interim | Final | |
Ex-Div | 07-Mar-24 | 14-Sep-23 |
Paid | 04-Apr-24 | 12-Oct-23 |
Amount | 0.40¢ | 3.20¢ |
Time | Volume / Share Price |
16:35 | 9,151 @ 196.20p |
16:35 | 23 @ 196.20p |
16:35 | 7 @ 196.20p |
16:35 | 35 @ 196.20p |
16:35 | 6 @ 196.20p |
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