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(Alliance News) - Endeavour Mining PLC on Wednesday reported a profit and revenue deterioration in the second quarter, but backed its full-year operational guidance.
The gold miner, with assets in nations including Senegal and Burkina Faso said pretax profit in the second quarter to June 30 declined to USD155 million from USD266 million a year prior, and fell to USD207 million from USD294 million in the first half of 2023.
Endeavour Mining shares fell 6.7% to 1,707.00 pence each on Wednesday morning in London.
Revenue in the second quarter fell to USD524 million from USD532 million. In the first half, it declined to USD1.00 billion from USD1.10 billion.
Gold production in the second quarter declined to 268,000 ounces from 292,000 a year prior, while the realised gold price rose by 6.1% to USD1,947 per ounce from USD1,835.
"In line with our strategy of actively managing our portfolio to focus on higher quality assets, we closed the sale of our non-core Boungou and Wahgnion mines during the period. This focus on quality will be further enhanced by the brownfield expansion of Sabodala-Massawa and the Lafigue greenfield project, both of which remain on budget and on track to be commissioned next year, and will deliver significant growth," said Chief Executive Officer Sebastien de Montessus.
Endeavour Mining declared an interim dividend of 40 US cents per share, maintained from a year ago. It intends to increase shareholder returns further once its organic growth projects are complete.
Looking ahead, the company expects its performance to increase in the second half.
"On the operational front, we are on track to meet our full year guidance for the eleventh consecutive year with our performance expected to increase into the second half of the year in light of the efforts over the past six months," said CEO de Montessus.
"Looking further ahead, our exploration programme continues to provide a strong platform for organic growth. Further drilling at last year's Tanda-Iguela discovery in Cote d'Ivoire has exceeded expectations. With over 95,000 meters already drilling during the first half of the year, we have decided to increase the full year drill programme to 180,000 meters and remain on track to publish a resource update later this year," he added.
By Tom Budszus, Alliance News reporter
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