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(Alliance News) - Endeavour Mining PLC on Thursday reported a rise in quarterly profit despite revenue falling as gold production declined.
The gold miner, with assets in nations including Senegal and Burkina Faso, said pretax profit rose to USD60 million in the quarter ended on March 31 from USD51 million a year before and compared to a USD299 million loss in the fourth quarter.
Revenue fell to USD591 million from USD689 million a year before, as earnings from mine operations fell to USD189 million from USD276 million.
Gold production fell 16% year-on-year to 301,000 ounces from 357,000 ounces, but realised gold price rose 7.3% from the previous quarter of USD1,758 to USD1,886 per ounce. However, the gold price was down from USD1,891 per ounce a year earlier.
All-in sustaining cost per ounce for the quarter rose to USD1,022 from USD954 in the fourth quarter and from USD848 a year earlier.
While operating expenses rose to USD234 million from USD220 million a year earlier, loss on financial instruments narrowed substantially to USD73 million from USD179 million.
Chief Executive Officer Sebastien de Montessus said: "During the quarter, we continued to deliver in line with our expectations and we remain well positioned to unlock near-term value for all of our stakeholders. We began the year with momentum and financial strength, positioning us to deliver against this year’s capital allocation priorities of funding growth while maintaining our attractive shareholder returns programme, which has already returned USD644 million since its launch in 2021."
Looking ahead, Endeavour Mining said it is tracking in line with our guided trend "on the operational front", as it expects production weighted towards the second half of the year due to mine sequencing across the group.
Shares were down 0.3% at 2,076.00 pence each on Thursday afternoon in London.
By Xindi Wei, Alliance News reporter
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