EMED.L Share News (EMED)

LONDON (Alliance News) - EMED Mining Public Ltd said Friday that its pretax loss narrowed in the half year to end-June and it swung to a profit in the second quarter, after it cut exploration and administration costs.

The Europe-based mineral development and exploration company posted a pretax profit of EUR10,000 in the second quarter, boosted by EUR1.7 million of finance income. For the half year, it posted a pretax loss of EUR4.5 million, narrowed from EUR4.9 million a year earlier, as lower admin and exploration costs more than offset higher care and maintenance expenses.

It isn't currently making any revenue.

During the period, the Government of Andalucía awarded a EUR8.8 million grant to the company's Spanish subsidiary EMED Tartessus to support the modernisation of the Rio Tinto Copper project facilities it owns. The Rio Tinto copper project, formerly owned by Rio Tinto PLC, is a key focus for EMED.

Following the half year end, the company entered into a subscription agreement with two investors to raise GBP13.1 million through the issue of 181.2 million shares at 7.25 pence each.

The company said it is working hard with onsite preparations as it focuses on fast-tracking copper production. It is laying the foundations for restarting production at the project in conjunction with the community, it said.

Shares in EMED Mining were trading down 2.6% at 7.55 pence Friday afternoon.

By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews

Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.