Antofagasta plc, a mining company, has released its 2023 Half Year Financial Report. The CEO, Iván Arriagada, highlighted the company's strong safety performance, with no fatalities and leading and lagging indicators of safety at a level ahead of last year. The financial metrics were also positive, with a 14.3% increase in revenue due to higher sales volumes and prices of copper, gold, and molybdenum. However, there was a 3.4% decline in copper prices.
The company's Cost and Competitiveness Programme has delivered $60 million in savings and productivity improvements so far this year, achieving the goal of $60 million in savings for the full year. EBITDA was 7.5% higher and profit before tax was 12.5% higher compared to last year. Earnings per share increased by 26.9% to 33.5 cents.
Looking ahead, Antofagasta expects the desalination plant to ramp up to its design capacity, allowing increased throughput at Los Pelambres and supporting the company's production and cost guidance. The CEO emphasized the importance of copper in the energy transition and the strong long-term fundamentals for the metal.
The company has declared an interim dividend of 11.7 cents per share, in line with its practice of paying 35% of interim net earnings as a dividend.