Centamin PLC (LON:CEY, TSX:CEE) reported an 82% jump in pretax profit for 2020 as higher gold prices outweighed lower production and higher costs.
Pretax profit soared to US$315mln, from US$173mln in 2019, as revenue rose 27% to a record US$828mln. The average price received for its gold during the year rose 26% to US$1,766 an ounce.
"Centamin delivered another solid financial performance in 2020, driven primarily by improved commodity pricing, our comprehensive response to COVID-19 and an improvement in operating efficiencies and productivity,” said chief executive Martin Horgan, who joined the company last April.
It produced 452,320 ounces of gold during the year, down from 480,528 ounces the previous year, and expects this to decline further again this year to between 400,000 to 430,000 ounces at cash costs of US$800-900 per ounce (up from US$719 in 2019).
Centamin plans to pay a final dividend of 3.0 US cents per share, taking the total dividend to 9.0 US cents (US$104.0mln), and reiterated its intention to pay a minimum 2021 total dividend of US$105mln.