Numis raises Centamin's target price after Q1 production update

Numis reiterated an ‘add’ rating on Centamin and raised the target price to 110p from 100p after the miner reported a jump in first quarter production.

Centamin earlier this month reported a 6.4% increase in gold production at its flagship Sukari gold mine in Egypt to 125,268 ounces in the three months to end of March.

“We believe that the company is well positioned to continue to optimize Sukari whilst developing its West African exploration portfolio supported by solid free cash flow generation and an ungeared balance sheet with $199m (£140m) of cash as of the end of 2015,” Numis said in a note to investors.

Numis expected the group would reach production of 470,000 ounces in 2016 at $900 per ounce, in line with guidance.

The company was due to report its first quarter financials on 11 May and Numis was predicting revenues of $147m, earnings before interest and tax of $29m and earnings per share of $0.03.

Shares rose 1.08% to 102.70p at 1117 BST.