Fresnillo 2018 Pretax Profit Fell; Guides for Challenging 2019
February 26 2019 - 2:58AM
Dow Jones News
By Carlo Martuscelli
Fresnillo PLC (FRES.LN) said Tuesday that pretax profit fell in
2018 despite increased production as the company faced a number of
headwinds, and guided for a difficult year ahead.
The company said profit before tax for the year totaled $483.9
million, compared with $741.5 million the year before, on revenue
that rose 0.5% to $2.10 billion.
A challenging operating environment hit earnings at the
precious-metal miner. A higher stripping ratio--a measure of how
much waste material must be processed to extract a given amount of
ore--at the Herradura mine in Mexico dampened profits, as did
inflation and depreciation.
Fresnillo said it expects 2019 to be a difficult year as a
result of lower precious-metal prices, as well as inflation.
"I also expect to see higher depreciation costs as a result of
the investments we have made in recent years into the operations,
while we continue to expect to work through operational issues and
lower grades at certain mines during the year," Chief Executive
Octavio Alvidrez said.
The FTSE 100-listed company declared a final dividend of 16.7
cents per share, bringing the total dividend to 27.4 cents.
Fresnillo previously said that while it achieved record
production in 2018, it still came in below guidance as a result of
lower-than-expected ore grades at its Fresnillo and Saucito mines
in Mexico.
Write to Carlo Martuscelli at carlo.martuscelli@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 26, 2019 02:43 ET (07:43 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Fresnillo (LSE:FRES)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Fresnillo (LSE:FRES)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024