Anglo Pacific’s (LON:APF) royalty income for the six months to June 2015 rose by 48% when compared to the corresponding period a year ago, to £3.8mln.
That already puts the company ahead of last year’s full year figure of £3.5mln and will be a significant boost to Julian Treger, the one-time fund manager tasked with returning the company to the good order it was always associated with before the profligacies of the boom years.
At 4p per share, the interim dividend maintains the previously announced plans for the dividend to run at 8p per year.
The company enjoyed new royalty income from the recently acquired interests in the Narrabri and Maracas projects, and this helped offset the effects of weaker commodity prices and the lingering effects a period of weak returns from the key Kestrel coal royalty in Australia.
But in spite of the weaker commodities outlook, Anglo Pacific was able to strike an upbeat note.
“Income has increased significantly and royalty income in the first half of the year is now ahead of what we received for the whole of 2014,” said Treger.
“The outlook for the remainder of 2015 is equally encouraging, with Narrabri running significantly ahead of our production estimates at the time of the acquisition and the latest Kestrel forecasts from Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) continuing to suggest 70-75% of production from within our lands in H2 2015. Both outcomes should allow us to report higher royalty income for 2015 as a whole, despite the fall in commodity prices experienced in the year to date.”